Matchmakers
by RositaLG
Summary: Janlan and Claire DuGray do a little matchmaking for their grandson. ABANDONED! but use your imagination and give my favorite pair a happy ending for me. :
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

"Janlan! Claire!?" Rory said as the couple walked over to her at her. "What are you two doing here?" She asked as she enveloped each of them in a huge hug. "You're supposed to be in bed. How are you feeling?" She asked again with much more concern than before.

"Darling, if you're going to hassle us like a reporter then you have to let us answer the first question before you ask the second." Janlan teased.

"Sorry. Please, go ahead." She said, gravitas emanating from her instantly.

"We came to celebrate your grandmother's birthday, of course." Claire said with a warm smile. "Although she doesn't look a day over fifty five!"

"And I'm feeling just fine for an old man." Janlan said.

"You always had more heart than anyone I've ever met." Rory complimented him. From behind her, Tristan smiled the same warm smile that Claire had passed down to him. The scene at first had boggled his mind. They were his grandparents after all, and the last time she had seen him had been seven years ago. When Janlan had told him about knowing Rory, to say he was shocked was an understatement.

OOOOO

Rory and Janlan had met in a library of course, Rory was trying to get away to deal with some business on her phone and Janlan was reading. After she introduced herself, Janlan was more than interested in getting to know this girl that had effected his grandson so much in high school.

"I knew your grandson at Chilton." Rory had said briefly, trying to strike up small talk.

"Oh I know." Janlan said with a wink that had caused Rory to blush profusely. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you." He said as he offered his hand out to her. She took it. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Well that's frightening." She said.

"It was always good, my dear." He comforted her.

"How is Tristan? Last time I heard, he had gone to North Carolina for military school."

"He's working for an architecture firm in New York. He just finished his time with the National Guard."

"Wow." She murmured. "It sounds like he really has his act together." Janlan smiled at Rory's last comment. It wasn't like someone who Tristan teased as much as Rory to be concerned about his life five years later. "Did he serve overseas?" Janlan nodded his head

"He was sent to Afghanistan during the surge." This bit of information knocked Rory into the sofa next to Janlan.

"I was just there last year. I know how much strength that takes." She said, impressed by him. "You must be very proud."

"We are. He seemed so young at the time, but that's a trick that age plays on you. My brother was killed in the war when he was just 18 at Normandy."

"Really? Did you serve?"

"I was too young." Rory shook her head at the sad news. Tristan could never have survived a war at 18. Nor could Jess, or even Dean. She had had this realization before, when she talked to the soldiers who were so much younger than even she was, but for some reason, standing here with Janlan, it passed through her head again.

"Well, I will leave you to your reading. I know how important finding a quiet place to read at a party is." She smiled. "If you talk to Tristan, tell him hello for me?" She requested.

"It would make his day." Janlan smiled. "I would be happy to."

After this meeting, Janlan and Rory had struck up conversations at similar parties and Rory had finally met Claire. A couple of parties later, however, Janlan was suffered a heart attack. At the first sound of this news, Rory wanted to call, but knew that she barely knew the couple and she was certain that Tristan was probably there. She sent flowers and a new book instead. Claire had called and said that it was Janlan's favorite gift. This was when Tristan first heard Rory's name again. He was carrying in the package when Janlan opened it.

"Do you want me to read the card Gramps?" Tristan had asked. Janlan's old wrinkled fingers brushed across the cover of the book and he smiled.

"I know who it's from." Janlan said as he smelled the cheery but out of place daisy bouquet. Tristan grabbed the card anyway. He was intrigued. Others had sent expensive bouquets from designer florists, but this one looked as if it were plucked by hand. Tristan pulled the card out of the envelope and flipped it over to read it.

"Janlan, I know you will get well soon, but milk the vacation a little longer first. Tell Claire thanks for her help, these are the products of her helpful hints." Tristan laughed. He felt relieved that someone who actually knew his grandparents outside of society had finally sent something. "There's no name. Sounds like you know this person pretty well though, huh?"

"They're from Rory Gilmore." Janlan said as simply as if he were ordering more tea. He waited for Tristan's reaction. He just shook his head, convinced he had heard him wrong.

"Explain please?" He requested, treating his seventy-nine year old grandfather as if he were a five year old caught doing something naughty.

"She's having a party next week. Will you come with us? I promised I would pass along her Hello, but if you're still going to be in town, you should let her tell you herself." No explanation. Fine, then Tristan would ask Claire, she would tell him, as well as all the other details he was dying to know right about now. Like how she looked. He couldn't imagine Rory Gilmore all grown up. She had always been so innocent and naïve, it was hard to picture her now, maybe she was still that way.

"Grandma!" Tristan yelled, getting up from the bed. Janlan just smiled, pleased with his antics. It helped him feel human again.

OOOOO

"Tristan, she is beautiful. One of the most kind and honest women I have ever met. Nothing would make us happier if you decided to marry her today." He choked on his lemonade and grabbed a napkin before he sputtered the liquid all over the tablecloth.

"Excuse me?"

"She's perfect. This is what I'm telling you." She said more seriously. "You wanted to know, so there you have it. She's perfect and more importantly, perfect for you."

"Oh I remember the perfection part." He muttered to himself. It's always good to know that the former girl of your dreams is still way out of your league.

"She's throwing her grandmother a birthday party. Emily is turning 65 and Rory has invited everyone who's ever known Emily to attend. You should definitely come meet her. She would be excited to see you again."

"Oh yeah? How do you know?"

"Because she's asked about you. Janlan filled her in on where you worked and what you had been doing the last couple of years."

"She always was inquisitive." Claire laughed.

"That's Rory." Tristan's stomach still churned at the sound of her name, despite the seven year absence from hearing it. It was as if that piece of his life had been dormant for seven years and now, was awake and stronger than ever. "She's single." His grandmother added with a smile.

"I think I can make it back for a party." Tristan said, not wanting to sound too eager to see this girl again. She smiled.

"I'll give you the invitation. It has her phone number on it."

OOOOO

So here he was, standing ten feet behind the woman he had crashed this party to see again. Claire noticed him and waved him over next to her.

"Here you are." He said as he handed them both some punch.

"Rory, you remember our grandson Tristan." Claire said as she patted him on the arm. Rory just stared at the man in front of her.

"Yeah, nice to see you again." She said, coming out of her daze. "How are you?" He swallowed nervously, preparing to speak.

"I'm well and yourself?"

"I'm well." They both stood there, taking each other in for a few more seconds before Janlan nodded to Claire and they walked away from the two. At the movement, Rory glanced over to see them leaving.

"You know my grandparents pretty well it seems." Tristan pointed out. Rory smiled.

"They're fantastic."

"I know." He smiled. "They tell me you're working in New York as well?" Rory nodded noncommittally.

"Well, I live in New York. I'm a Freelance writer, so I work wherever they pay me to go." She said.

"Not a bad life." Tristan said with a smile.

"Tell that to my mother." Rory said. Tristan looked at her for more information. "She always pictures me lying in a bunker somewhere. A couple trips to a war zone and you'd think the world was ending." The ease at her mentioning this surprised Tristan.

"So you're an international freelance writer." Rory nodded.

"I wanted to grow up to be Christian Amanpour."

"And now you have?"

"Well, close enough for me." Tristan smiled.

"Good for you."

"Rory!" A worried assistant came rushing up to her. "We need you, slight emergency." Rory nodded.

"I better go. It was nice seeing you again."

"You too." He said.

"If you ever want to talk, your grandfather has my card. You should call me when we are both in New York."

"Okay." He nodded, not mentioning the fact that he already had her number in his cell phone.

"Rory!" She rolled her eyes and walked away to go comfort the panicked girl. He chuckled as he walked over to stand by his grandparents again.

"Well, how did it go?" Janlan asked.

"She's just like I remembered her." Tristan said, refusing to spill more information

"And are you going to take her out sometime?" Claire asked.

"I just talked to the woman for two minutes." He pointed out. "Relax." He said. Janlan hit his grandson on the back of the head.

"Girls like that are rare, Tristan. You missed out on the opportunity once, you would be stupid to let her get away again."

"Fine, we're going to meet up in the city sometime. Geez." He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Good." Claire said. "But will you speed the process up, we're getting old and we would like to see some grandkids before we die." Tristan just stared at his grandmother, who was clearly teasing him, but not quite. He rolled his eyes and walked away, refusing to answer.

"They're perfect for each other." Janlan whispered.

"Yes they are." Claire smiled as she kissed her husband on the cheek.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Wow! I had no idea the kind of reaction I would get to this story. It was meant to just be a short Meetcute and leave it at that. However, you all clearly want me to continue and so I definitely will. So go ahead, subscribe to this story. It's going to be a chapter story. Thanks for the input and I hope that this is what you waited for.

Tristan had called as soon as they were both back in the city and Rory had quickly decided for both of them that they needed to go on a date, even if it was just one to get Janlan and Claire off of their backs. The fact that she had practically forced his hand after years of trying to get her to go out with him was not lost on Tristan. He found it strangely ironic that she was the one making the moves on the phone and Tristan knew that she had changed. However, in his mind, she would always be that girl who was so fiercely against having anything to do with him. This memory set in a familiar wave of anxiety that he wasn't, and would never be, good enough for this girl.

As he knocked on her door, his stomach was in knots. That is, until she opened the door. He felt instantly more relaxed at just the sight of her. She was wearing a simple dress and even underneath her make-up, he could see the girl that used to drive him crazy. He smiled at the fact that he knew her so well and it reassured him of what they were doing.

Rory on the other hand, was playing it so cool she was shocking herself. That is, until she opened the front door. Taken at the sight of Tristan, she realized that this date was seven years in the making. He was tan, lean, and strong and he had a body that was perfect in every way. Suddenly, she was daunted by the fact that he was Tristan DuGray. Tristan DuGray, for God's sake. He smiled at the sight of her and this unnerved her to no end for some reason. Maybe it was because when he smiled, truly smiled that is, it actually made her weak in the knees. She always thought that was a cliché, but standing here before him, she was melting into the wall.

"You ready?" Tristan asked. She just gulped and nodded. So much for playing it cool.

OOOOO

Tristan took his time. Rory couldn't believe this considering who he used to be, but now he went slow. He was a gentleman, as if all those years of finishing school finally seeped into his brain, years after the fact. When she had pointed out this change of pace, he laughed and blamed it on five years of living in the South. For better or worse, it had broken him of his frantic East Coast pace.

"Do you want to come in for some coffee?" She asked, hoping to keep this date going a little longer.

"I would love to, but I can't. Can I take a raincheck?" He asked. She nodded.

"Next time." She told him. He nodded. After staring at her for a brief second, he leaned in and kissed Rory softly. It reminded her that this was not the first time they had kissed each other. When Tristan pulled away, Rory was looking thoughtful. She shook her head unsatisfied and pulled him in one more time, deepening the kiss this time around. "Now that's a proper second kiss." Rory said, slightly out of breath. When she looked up at Tristan, it was his turn to have the melting into the wall look on his face. "Rethinking that coffee?" He nodded.

"If I kiss you again, I'll never have the will to leave." He admitted, staring into her eyes. She smiled. So that explained the repressed behavior tonight. It was self-defense. "Tell me I have a meeting tomorrow and I can't stay."

"You have a meeting tomorrow and you really shouldn't stay." She said, suddenly turning up the sex in her voice and actions, purposefully making his decision nearly impossible.

"It would be irresponsible." He said as she opened the door to her apartment and leaned against the doorframe. She was playing to his former self, the bad boy that she was pretty certain was lying dormant in there, just waiting to come out. It was like she had hypnotized him and was luring him in against his will. He got to the doorway and paused in front of her. He had his left foot in her apartment and his right still in the hallway. His hand went to her hip and he moved until his lips were inches away from hers as he considered the fallout from this decision. One more kiss wouldn't kill him. Just before his lips met hers, she shifted her head.

"It's too bad. You could finally know what it's like to have your Mary." Rory whispered seductively in his ear. And with that little piece of straw, Rory Gilmore broke Tristan DuGray's army-certified backbone of steel. Within two seconds, his lips had crashed against hers and he had slammed the door behind them.

OOOOO

Tristan was out of time. He had to get back to his apartment to grab his things before work. He sighed as he looked down at a sleeping Rory. Last night had been everything he had ever dreamed it would be and more. It was hot and passionate, slow and exquisite, torture and pleasure all rolled into one. He was right about one thing; he had lost the will to leave. Every time he looked at her, he thought about the night before.

"Ror," He said as he nudged her. "Don't get up. I've got to go but I will call you later tonight, okay?" She put her hand on his arm.

"Don't go." She said. "Call in sick. Stay in bed." She grumbled.

"I have to. I'll call you." He repeated, knowing that if he stayed long enough for her to fully wake up, he would be a lost cause.

"Hey," She said, opening one eye. "Was it worth it?" She asked, wanting him to concede that she had been right.

"Totally worth it." He said with a broad smile and a quick kiss. "See you later." He was out the door.

OOOOO

Rory took her time getting out of bed. She had plenty of time and for once she loved that she didn't have an office to report to in the morning. She stretched her sore muscles and blushed to herself as she recalled the night's activities. She now understood why Tristan had been so reluctant to come in. She never remembered feeling a connection with him in high school. Then again, she had never really given him a chance, had she? Now just looking at him sent flames and chills shooting throughout her body. It was magnetic. Once they had reached that certain point, there was no point in trying to separate.

They knew each other, at least enough to get past the first awkward stages of a relationship, and for that, Rory was thankful. Their date had gone so well, Rory wasn't quite sure how to move forward. They had talked for hours before realizing the time and leaving the restaurant. They had discussed their time apart, their college experiences, even Tristan's time in the Guard. He had been surprisingly open about that experience and how much it had changed him as a person. From Rory's perspective, it was hard to describe the experience, even for a seasoned reporter like herself, so the fact that he did it so well was refreshing.

She finally dragged herself to the shower and turned on the water. Tristan had said he was going to call her later and this brought a smile to her lips. She was going to have to get her work done this afternoon then. She was currently researching an article on journalists being taken as political prisoners and the impact that they, knowingly or not, would have on the larger world stage. It was a piece that she took very seriously, as fellow reporters and friends were often in trouble with governments for espionage. Whether this was a true crime or not, it seemed to be happening more frequently and a fact that her mother often repeated to her. Speaking of her mother, Rory should probably give her a call and update her on the situation she was in.

OOOOO

"I had the best first date ever last night." Rory confirmed with her mother.

"And?" Lorelei said, surprised at her daughter's reaction.

"What else do you want me to say?" Rory asked.

"Anything! Details!" Lorelei begged. "You can't just call it the best first date ever and then leave it at that."

"We talked for hours. He was a perfect gentleman, almost annoyingly so actually. I missed the old him a little. Then, at the end of the date, I found out that he was just trying to control himself. Turns out, he was just as into me as I was to him."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"So it ended well."

"It ended this morning." She said, leaving it at that.

"Well," Lorelei didn't know what to say. "It sounds like you're happy."

"I am."

"Do I get to meet him?" Rory didn't answer.

"It's a little soon, don't you think? I don't want you to scare him off."

"But what about my stash of naked Rory pictures I've got saved up over the years?" Lorelei joked.

"Now you can never meet him." Rory said matter of factly.

"Aw, come on! I haven't showed those to anyone in years. Logan was the last one and he was ages ago."

"No." Rory said. "I'm hanging up now."

"You're no fun!" Click. Lorelei stared into the dead phone. "Seriously, no fun at all." She said as she threw the phone down.

OOOOO

Rory smiled as Tristan's number flashed across her caller ID. She let it ring once more before picking up.

"Hello?"

"Hi." He said, grinning already.

"Hi. How was work?"

"Honestly? I don't remember most of the day, I didn't sleep much last night." He said, as if she didn't realize.

"Oh really? That's too bad." She said, playing along. "You know, you really should get a full night's rest before important meetings." She scolded.

"That wasn't your argument last night." He said, breaking the game.

"Last night was different. That was my evil twin who seduces poor, vulnerable working stiffs like yourself into bed when they should be at home sleeping."

"In that case, can I have her number instead?" Tristan asked. Rory scoffed.

"Why were you calling?"

"Because I had the best night of my life last night." He said, sounding strikingly honest. His comfortable attitude towards the truth was still rattling her a bit. She wasn't used to people being so blunt with her. She was used to liars, and having to dig for the true meaning behind words. It was cynical, but it was her job and she was good at it.

"Me too." She said. "I would love to do it again."

"Which part?" He asked.

"All of it." He smiled.

"Good, what are you doing this weekend?" Rory sighed, here they go.

"This weekend is no good for me. I'm going to be in London."

"You're going to London. For the weekend?" Tristan said disbelieving.

"Yeah, work, you know."

"My work takes place in an office the size of my bedroom, not on the global scale. So no, I do not know." He teased.

"Do you want to come with me?"

"To London."

"Yes. My treat."

"You're going to pay for my ticket to London?" He said, still incredulous.

"Yeah."

"First of all, who is paying you to go to London?" Rory was silent for a minute.

"Well, I am." Now it was Tristan's turn for the long pause.

"How much are reporters making these days?"

"Not a lot." She sighed.

"So you're magic?" He asked.

"No. I'm taken care of."

"Be more vague." He requested. "Please. I dare you." She smiled.

"When I turned 25, I gained access to my trust funds. I use one of them for work."

"Wait, funds? As in plural?" Tristan said, clarifying.

"Uh-huh. I'm the only grandchild of the Gilmores and the Haydens." She said. "As far as heirs go, I'm a regular Paris Hilton." Tristan laughed out loud at this ridiculous statement. "I got one from my dad, and one from my great-grandmother and another from my grandparents. And I use one of them for work when there's a great interview and the paper I'm working for can't actually afford to send me there."

"And the people who use you, they know this."

"Yes. And it insures that they pick me first because I do the best work for the cheapest price."

"Job security from a trust fund. There's a good bit of irony in that."

"I'd like to think so."

"So can I be nosey and find out how much you are worth?"

"Right now?"

"Uh-huh."

"Less than a million." She said with a smile.

"Okay. Less than half a million?" He asked, wanting to know. Her lack of an answer told him no.

"This is weird." She said, clearly uncomfortable with where this conversation was going. "Are you after my money?"

"Yes, because I myself am so poor. I just don't have access to it yet. DuGrays are fond of holding onto their money until they die. I like that you have all their money. You should have all the money, you're the one who knows how to use it properly." She smiled.

"Well, I don't tell people about it. It's weird. And I hate spending it."

"Didn't you just offer to spend it on me?"

"Okay, I hate spending it on myself. Do you want to come with me or what?"

"I don't want to interrupt your work." He said. "You're going to be busy."

"It's a two hour max interview and then it's me relaxing at the family flat."

"You have a flat in London?"

"It used to be my Great-grandmother's. Now we just use it on vacations." Tristan smiled. He loved this girl more by the second.

"If we want to take a day trip to France, I'll show you the DuGray chateau." He said.

"Three day weekend…I like it. Can you get away?" She teased.

"I could call in sick on Monday."

"From France." She stated as if they were being ridiculous.

"Why not. London, Paris. It would be an amazing vacation." She pondered how spontaneous they were being.

"Of course it would."

"Then let's do it." Tristan finally agreed. "I would have to call my grandparents and let them know of course." Rory shook her head. "It's technically their place."

"Seriously?" She grinned.

"Yeah. I'm completely serious."

"I can't believe this."

"Believe it. I'll call you back when I know more information."

"Okay." She said as she hung up the phone, half-dazed by the conversation that just took place. We're going to Europe together? For the weekend? She shook her head. What had she gotten herself into?


	3. Chapter 3

Tristan sighed as he rang his grandparent's doorbell. This was going to go over really well.

"Tristan, darling, what are you doing here?" Claire asked as she answered the door.

"Where's the maid?" He asked as he stepped inside.

"Not here. You know I hate keeping people around doing jobs that I could very well do myself." Tristan smiled. "It unnerves me to no end."

"You have the maid to make your life easier, not to give you more stress." He kindly pointed out. Claire just waved her hand at him.

"Are you hungry?"

"Got any cookies?" He asked like the child he always turned into around his grandmother.

"In the jar." She said, but Tristan already had his hand in the contraption and was fishing out chocolate chip cookies by the handful.

"Is the old man around?" He asked. "I need to ask him a favor."

"I think he's in the study. Before you go bugging him, how did your date with Rory go?" Tristan paused and smiled. How did he say this?

"It went really well." Tristan said gently. "That's actually why I'm here."

"Did you two get married or something?"

"No, but Rory is heading to London this weekend for work and she had an extra ticket so I'm going to join her." Claire just stared at the boy and shook her head. "I wanted to ask if I could borrow the keys to the place in France."

"I thought you said she was going to London?" A sheepish smile crept onto his lips. "Tristan Janlan DuGray!" At the sound of his full name, he instinctively winced and prepared to be slapped across the back of his head. "What am I going to do with you?"

"You were the one telling me to hurry up!" He pointed out defensively.

"Go on, go tell your grandfather this ridiculous plan. But do it gently, you'll give the man another heart attack." Tristan stuck another cookie in between his teeth and walked away.

OOOOO

"Tristan! What are you doing here?"

"Want a cookie?" He offered, hoping that it would butter the old man up and put him in a good mood. He knew that junk food was contraband in the house now that he was recovering from his heart attack.

"What did you do?" Janlan asked suspiciously, but took the cookie anyway.

"Nothing…yet." Janlan just smiled as Tristan told him about his date with Rory and about how well it had gone. He left out the part about them sleeping together; it was his grandfather after all.

"Do you love her?" He asked his grandson, who was surprised, but not shocked at the question.

"Grandpa, it's too early to be asking that question."

"Nonsense. I knew that I loved your grandmother the second I saw her."

"You really knew?"

"Instantly and without saying a word to her."

"That's amazing."

"It was undeniable. She walked into the room and it was like my world had changed forever, just from seeing her." Tristan smiled at the old romantic recalling his childhood in front of him. He knew there was probably more of Janlan in him than his own father and it was what connected the two so deeply. They were twin souls.

"Well, I don't think love was the first thing I thought of. She was definitely an enigma at Chilton. I think I was drawn to her simply because she stood apart from everyone and everything I thought I knew."

"And now?" Janlan asked.

"Now she's still just as interesting as she was the first day I met her. For example, did you know how much she's worth? I mean, she practically hides all that money in a mattress so no one knows about it. In that aspect, she's still the same girl I knew back at Chilton, but she's grown up a lot." Janlan chuckled, gathering what his grandson meant without having to hear it. He got up and went to his safe, swung open the door and threw the keys to the Chateau at Tristan.

"You might as well keep them." Janlan said. "We probably won't be going there much anymore."

"What?"

"I'm serious. Just promise me that you'll take your children there, your grandchildren. Keep it in the family." Tristan just stared at the keys in his hand and back at his grandfather.

"Gramps, I…" He tried to hand the keys back to his grandfather but he refused them.

"You promise. I know you do." Janlan finished the sentence the way he wanted it to be finished and clamped his hands around his grandson's. Tristan got up and wrapped his grandfather in a huge hug.

"I'll take good care of it."

"I know you will." Janlan replied. "Oh, and Tristan?"

"Yes." He asked, pausing in the door of the study.

"Don't forget about Nessa." The look on Tristan's face was priceless as the old man chuckled to himself.

OOOOO

Rory was seriously regretting this decision. She had to be 'new relationship cute' the entire trip, and that was seriously hard to do when you were flying on the red eye to London. She had called in reinforcements in her mother and Lane who were coming by to help her pack and to learn all about this new relationship.

"What was I thinking?!" Rory groaned into the pile of clothes that were scattered all over her bed.

"You weren't." Lane said with a smile. "It's a refreshing change of pace." Lorelei said as she held up one of her sweaters that she had retrieved out of Rory's closet. "Do you know how long I searched for this?" She asked, putting it in her purse to bring it back home.

"The fact that you are doing this is very brave. And I for one am proud of you. And that has nothing to do with the fact that I have no life, and two children, and must live vicariously through you and your fabulous European adventure." Lane added. "Wear this." She threw a T-shirt in the bag.

"You really think that this trip could actually work out?" Rory said.

"Do you?" Lorelei said. "That's the only question that matters here." Rory shrugged.

"I don't know."

"There's only one way to find out." Lane said with a grin.

OOOOO

"So he just gave you the keys, just like that?"

"Just like that."

"Your grandfather is officially the coolest man on the face of the planet." Rory said as she settled into the plane seat.

"Trust me, I know." Rory smiled and pulled out her book and placed it in the compartment in front of her.

"Thanks for coming." She said.

"Thanks for inviting me." Tristan said with a smile.

"I'm still not used to doing spontaneous stuff like this on my own. I'm usually forced into it." She laughed. "I'm always waiting for the fallout of not planning, for something to go horribly wrong."

"It won't. I have a good feeling." Tristan said as he squeezed her hand. And for once, that was enough to convince Rory.

OOOOO

After sleeping on the plane, they finally arrived in London at seven am Saturday morning. They shoved all of their stuff into a cab and were off to the flat, which Rory hadn't actually stayed at in over a year, but she was sure that it was kept in good condition.

"How did you sleep?" Tristan asked, knowing she had been unconscious for most of the flight.

"Like a rock, and yourself?" He shrugged.

"I don't sleep well on planes. It's a military thing." He smiled. In fact, he had kept a close eye on her most of that time. Watching her sleep was surprisingly time-consuming.

"Well you'll have plenty of time to nap this morning." She said with a smile. "My interview is at noon and I should be back to the apartment by two. So you could sleep a good" she paused to do the math in her head "seven hours before hitting the town." He nodded. "We could head out for tea afterwards." She suggested.

"Okay." Tristan said.

OOOOO

Rory's interview had gone exceedingly well and she was in a great mood when she came bouncing back into the apartment to pick up Tristan.

"Hey." He said. "How did it go?"

"It went so beautifully I couldn't have planned it any better if I gave my own answers."

"Who were you interviewing?" He asked, realizing that he had no idea why they were actually here.

"The British Press Secretary."

"Oh really? The Press Secretary?" Tristan was unwilling to let her slide on how nonchalantly she mentioned it but Rory was too excited to catch on.

"Uh-huh. He was fantastic. And so smart! Usually they just stick to the script they have been given but this guy was witty. I won't even have to try and make the article interesting." She grinned as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Are you ready to go?"

"Sure, any place in particular or would you prefer to just wander?"

"Wandering is much more along this trip's theme of spontaneity." She said. "Let's just…start walking."

"Okay." Her enthusiasm was contagious as Tristan threw on his shoes and followed her out the door.

OOOOO

As they wandered through one of the local parks, Tristan wrapped his arm around Rory's waist. She smiled at the simple action and suddenly felt extremely peaceful.

"Ace?" Rory froze at the sound of her old nickname and turned around slowly. Tristan watched her face as he too turned around to see who was calling out to her.

"Logan." Rory said, shocked. "Oh my God. What a surprise!" She said as she wrapped him in a hug. The blonde returned the embrace as Tristan watched awkwardly from the sidewalk.

"Excuse me, I live here. What the Hell are you doing on this side of the Atlantic?"

"A work-cation." This Logan fellow was clearly American and definitely knew Rory enough to have given her a nickname. Tristan watched in interest as the two interacted. Logan laughed at Rory's made-up term and smiled.

"How are you, Ror?" He genuinely seemed to care. The mix of sadness and happiness at seeing her let Tristan know that they had dated. He loved her; that much was certain.

"I'm great." It was now that Logan finally noticed Tristan. He ignored the pang of jealousy that went through his system as Tristan eyed him up. "How are you?" She asked.

"You know me, I can't complain." He said before actually turning his attention back to Rory. "What about you, how's your mom doing?"

"She's great. Happily married to Luke and her same crazy self." Realizing that Tristan was still watching the interaction from the two, Rory caved and introduced the two men. "God, I'm so sorry. Logan Huntzberger, Tristan DuGray. Tristan, Logan." She said as she gestured to each of them respectively. "Logan and I went to Yale together. Tristan and I went to Chilton together." She explained, leaving out the fact that she was engaged to the former and currently dating the later. They both knew why she left out the details, but Logan refused to let it go that simply.

"It's a pleasure." Tristan said, trying to be polite.

"No it's all mine." Logan said. "And actually," he said, throwing a scolding look at Rory "we used to be engaged." He knew that she was trying to protect everyone from the phrase. From the look on Tristan's face, he clearly hadn't learned that information yet. He decided to change the subject quickly. "Hey. I read your article in the Times a couple of weeks ago. It was brilliant." Rory blushed.

"Thank you. That means a lot coming from you."

"I almost picked up the phone to call and brag."

"You and my Grandfather taught me everything I know about Business."

"You always were a quick learner." He said with a big smile.

"So are you still working for the firm here?" She asked.

"Yes. I'm actually on my way to a meeting right now."

"Well then, we won't keep you. It was nice seeing you Logan. You look great."

"And you, as always, look beautiful." He said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I miss having you around Ace." He whispered to her. She smiled. "Bye."

"Bye." She watched him walk away down the sidewalk before turning to face Tristan. At the sight of his face, she turned bright red. "I know I know! I should have told you."

"I realize now that we never really talked about our past relationships during our first date. Normally, a great first date situation, right now however, I'm wondering what the Hell is going on." Rory sighed, wrapped her arm around his, and put her head on his shoulder.

"It's a very, very long conversation."

"I've got time."

"We're going to need tea, and a lot of chocolate biscuits."

"There's a café on the corner." He nodded down the street. She smiled and let him lead the way.

OOOOO

After hearing the whole story, from what happened with Dean to Logan, Tristan was surprisingly attentive. He supposed that he wanted to know how Rory got to be who she was today, and a large part of that was within the stories of her relationships. They had made it to graduation, in which Rory and Logan became engaged, despite the fact that he had been living in London for the past year and she was planning on writing full time.

"I thought that we could make it work." Rory said honestly. "I know it sounds so naïve now, but I really didn't think much of the distance at the time. We had made it through so much before, this just seemed like another obstacle." Tristan nodded, showing that he was still listening. "But when I started working more and more, things became tense. We never saw each other and one night, it just hit me. This is what our life together would be like. I would be on one side of the planet and he would be on the other, even when we were married. Neither one of us was going to change our careers just to get married. I called him up and I told him that I couldn't do it. And I'm pretty sure that he was relieved that I had brought it up. He said that, while he had been the one to propose, and that he loved me, he didn't know if he could actually make a relationship work like the one we were currently in, and he had been wanting to talk about it too. So we mutually went our separate ways and I put the ring away and I haven't dated anyone seriously since." Tristan sighed.

"Wow."

"Yeah. And that's just the Reader's Digest version." She cracked a smile.

"And now?" Tristan asked.

"Now, I'm sitting here with you, in a London café and I'm very happy."

"I mean, do you want to have a serious relationship with me?" He asked, hoping that she would say yes.

"I brought you to London just so I could see your face." She said, blatantly pointing out the facts. He laughed and the tension was instantly eased.

"So that's a yes?"

"That's a definite yes."

"Good, because I have enjoyed every second of my time with you so far."

"Me too." She grinned. "I'm glad you could come." Tristan just nodded. They must have looked like fools, both widely grinning and staring at each other, but they were happy fools.

"Come on." Tristan said, slapping his hands together. "We've got more of the city to see."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.

Tristan and Rory arrived in Paris the next morning. Rory was surprised to find a car waiting for them and they were quickly driven out to the Parisian countryside. Rory watched Tristan as they pulled up to the DuGray's vacation home. He seemed both excited and anxious to see the house that he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Here we are." Tristan said with a smile as he opened his door. It was smaller than she had anticipated, but it seemed bigger in comparison to everything around it. It was a four bedroom cottage that was almost too picturesque for words. She noticed that they had neighbors who were pulling into the drive next to theirs. Tristan noticed too because he picked up her bags and whisked her inside quickly.

"Nosey neighbors." He said with a wink. Rory just smiled.

"Say no more. I grew up in Stars Hollow, remember?" Tristan nodded.

"Wow." Rory began to look around and made her way into the kitchen. As she turned around to mention something to Tristan, she noticed he wasn't with her. Heading back into the main room of the house, she appeared just as there was a knock on the front door. Looking around, she figured he had disappeared with the bags into one of the bedrooms. She saw no harm in opening the front door, even for a nosey neighbor.

"Bonjour." On the other side of the door stood a six foot tall, thin, brunette supermodel with a golden smile.

"Hi." Rory said, expecting a little old lady, maybe similar to Babette. This woman was definitely not a little old lady.

"Nessa?" Tristan said from behind Rory. She turned around to see his face and the woman in the doorway rushed past her.

"Tristan!" She cried, giving him a huge hug. Tristan smiled apologetically to Rory for whatever was about to transpire. Turning his attention back to Nessa, he realized he had no idea what to say to the girl who clung so tightly to him.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her. Okay, not the best way to start out the conversation after almost a decade but whatever. It was a start.

"I'm visiting my mother. I thought that it was you pulling into the drive in front of us, but I hadn't seen you in so long I thought, it cannot be. But here you are!" She said with a big smile. "And with a gorgeous girlfriend no less." She muttered, a not so subtle hint to be introduced.

"Speaking of which," Tristan said, scolding Nessa for her impatience with a look. "Ness, this is my girlfriend Rory. Rory this is Vanessa Martin."

"Hi." Rory said.

"Please, call me Nessa. Everyone else does." Rory smiled politely, unsure of where this was going.

"Nessa and I spent just about every summer together when we were growing up."

"We used to be inseparable, no?" She smiled.

"It's true." Tristan smiled, more comfortable now than when the two women first met.

"Well, I must be going. Rory, I am heading into the city this afternoon to go shopping, you should come." Tristan glanced nervously at Rory, mentally suggesting that she didn't have to.

"Maybe." She said. "Stop by again before you leave."

"I will. Adieu." Nessa nodded and kissed them both on the cheek before leaving. Tristan shut the door behind her.

"Nosey neighbors, huh?" Rory smiled with a raised eyebrow, knowing he had been caught. Tristan nodded his head. "So, what's the story?"

"That is the story. Nessa and I were best friends for years. She was the only person my age that was around and so we got to know each other very well."

"I'm sure." Rory said with a smile.

"It wasn't like that."

"Oh no?" Rory asked with another raised eyebrow.

"Well, it was, but we were friends." Rory couldn't help but enjoy how flustered Tristan was at this whole scene.

"So you don't want me to go shopping with her later?"

"I would prefer if you didn't but I can't really stop you."

"I want to. She holds all the dirt. She's like a big sister and an ex-girlfriend all rolled into one." Rory said.

"Which is exactly why I want to keep your curious little butt locked in the house." He said, slapping her playfully as he walked past her into the kitchen, hoping to end the conversation.

"Come on. I want to know all about little Tristan."

"So you're going then?" He said.

"And pass that opportunity up? Are you kidding?" She said, thinking it was obvious.

OOOOO

"So tell me all about Tristan growing up. When did you two first meet?" Rory requested as she shuffled through the clothes on the rack. Nessa thought about it.

"Probably when he was six?"

"Really?" Rory was surprised by the number.

"Yes, until he was sixteen. He stopped visiting then. I was so bored that summer." She confessed with a smile. "I used to look forward to him visiting so much. Especially when I was a young girl. I thought he was so cute. I used to watch him out my window. He would sit and draw for hours, but I liked watching him think." Rory smiled.

"Did you two date?" Nessa shook her head, hesitant to call it dating.

"We only saw each other in the summers, so it was silly to date. When we were young I said, I've never kissed a boy before. So then, he kissed me." She giggled, embarrassed. "It was so innocent. We were each other's first everything." She said, remembering. "When we were fifteen, we made love the night before he left. He said that he had to know, what it would be like and that if he didn't, he would always wonder." She said, imitating Tristan's direct style with a gesture of her hand. "I, of course, thought that I loved him, but..." She smiled. "when I look back, I know that we were both just friends."

"Wow. It's hard for me to picture Tristan as inexperienced." Rory said honestly. "I met him when he had already conquered half the girls in school."

"You met him in high school?" Rory nodded. "How long have you been dating?" She said, expecting a big number.

"About a week." Rory said honestly. Nessa couldn't hide the shock that filled her face, but she recovered quickly and smiled. "It's been a week and we've already left the country together." Rory said, shaking her head at her own behavior. "I'm usually such a sensible person. I have no idea what we are doing here, but he suggested it and two days later here we were."

"Tristan has a way of making crazy things make sense." Nessa said.

"It's not just me?" Rory asked.

"No." Nessa smiled. "He made me do things my Catholic mother will never find out about." Nessa said before crossing herself. "He's got a gift for convincing good girls to do crazy things. It's his smirk. It's like a dare."

"For some reason, that doesn't comfort me."

"So do you know the reason he stopped coming to France?" Nessa asked, clearly wanting to know without overstepping her bounds.

"He was sent away to military school." Rory said, surprised she didn't know. "His father pulled him out of school and sent him to North Carolina. I was the last person to see him before he left and I didn't see him again until a couple weeks ago."

"Wow. He must have done something really bad."

"More than once." Rory smiled. "But I think it was the best thing that ever happened to him. Look at him now." Nessa nodded, trying not to be upset by the fact that he had misbehaved so many years ago.

OOOOO

Nessa dropped Rory off at her house and Rory invited her in for a minute.

"Hello." Tristan said, giving her a kiss. "Did you have fun?" Rory nodded with a smile.

"How much did you tell her?" He whispered to Nessa in French.

"Everything." She replied, a cautious but playful glance at Rory.

"Everything?" He asked, shocked at how much Rory must know.

"Everything." Rory answered with a smile, joining the conversation. "And in return, I told her everything that I knew."

"Rory! I didn't know that you spoke French!" Nessa said, pleased with her new friend.

"Nor did I." Tristan said, this time in English.

"I do." She told him with a shrug.

"Well, I must be going. You leave tomorrow, yes?" She asked. Tristan nodded.

"I'll walk you over." Tristan said, shutting the front door behind them. They walked in silence for a while before Tristan couldn't stomach it anymore. "Thanks for taking care of Rory for the day." He said, saying the first thing that came to his mind.

"My pleasure. She is lovely." Nessa complimented her and Tristan smiled and nodded. "I think that you love her, am I right?" He smiled and shook his head, refusing to answer the question. "Then she's a very lucky girl." Nessa said, taking that as a yes. "She told me about your actions in high school and all the trouble that you caused." She said as she hit him. "What were you thinking?" She asked.

"I wasn't thinking, that was the problem."

"Tristan." She clicked her tongue disapprovingly.

"It wasn't a good time for me, Ness, really." He said. "It's a miracle I survived at all."

"She also told me that you nicknamed her the Virgin Mary and teased her all the time." She elbowed him in the ribs. "And she told me that you make her do crazy things that she never would do otherwise." She said, a grin escaping her lips.

"Sounds familiar huh?" She just nodded and he smiled foolishly, knowing that she had been the first for all of those things.

"And despite all of the things that you did, she still likes you." Tristan stopped and looked her in the eye to see if she was still kidding.

"How do you know that?"

"Because I know how it feels to love a boy that you also hate." She said with a smile. "You know, I am very glad that I got to see you, now that you are a man." She confessed.

"And? What do you think?" He asked, holding his arms out and letting her examine him. She giggled at the sight.

"I think you're still the same silly boy that I remember." She said before launching herself into his still open arms. "Goodbye Tristan." She kissed him on the cheek. "Take care of yourself, please."

"I will. Bye." He said, watching her walk into her house.

OOOOO

Rory watched the silent actions unfold through the kitchen window and couldn't help but smile as Nessa attacked Tristan and then gave him a hug. When Tristan turned around to come back to the house, Rory quickly sat down at the kitchen table as if she had been there the whole time.

"Ror?" He asked as he came in the house.

"In here!" She yelled. Without saying a word, he walked over to her and gave her a kiss. "What was that for?" She asked.

"Nessa basically just told me that I don't deserve you after making you put up with all of my crap back in high school. So that was a combo of I'm sorry and Thank you." He said with a thoughtful smile.

"Well, that's probably true, but I wasn't exactly on my best behavior around you either." She said.

"I know a way to make it up to you. Wanna go on a little adventure?" He asked, that daring smirk appearing out of nowhere. Rory glanced at him, unsure but then nodded.

OOOOO

"When are you going to tell me where we are going?" Rory asked, frustrated by his lack of information.

"When you were gone this afternoon, I did a little research." He said as the car came to a stop.

"Well that's not entirely vague." Rory said to herself.

"And if I remember right, I seem to recall you loving this movie." He said as he handed her a flyer. Rory is speechless. "It's an outdoor showing in the park."

"Casablanca?! Are you serious?" He nodded. "We're going to watch Casablanca, in Paris, underneath the stars?" She said, still reading the pamphlet. He nodded and smiled at her face as she tried to comprehend how amazing this scenario was.

"Come on, let's find a good spot." He said as he opened his door. Rory jumped out of the car and followed behind him, still in awe. She watched as Tristan set down a blanket and climbed onto it.

"I don't even know what to say."

"That's probably the highest compliment I could receive." Tristan said, knowing how verbose she was.

"Best date ever." She said. "Hands down." He smiled as the projector started and all of the couples hushed.

"Oh." Tristan pulled out a pack of Red Vines out of the basket he had been carrying and handed them to Rory, who squealed in delight. She got dirty looks from the French around her, but she didn't care. She was on cloud nine. She snuggled in closer to Tristan, who smiled and held her close.

OOOOO

Throughout the movie, Rory avidly watched the screen, mouthing the lines word for word of all her favorite parts, which seemed to be about half of the movie. Tristan watched Rory throughout the evening, getting pleasure out of the fact that she was so into the movie. His grandmother had told him once that he should only marry a woman that he enjoyed watching, even if she was asleep. To be captivated with someone so much, that they could be unconscious and still hold your attention was the only true test of love. Her example then had been of infant children sleeping in their cradles. They never changed, but you couldn't pull your eyes away. Tristan suddenly understood those words in a new way. Rory turned her attention to Tristan, who she finally realized was watching her. She flashed him a smile and leaned closer.

"Are you enjoying the movie?" She asked. He nodded, wanting to keep up the pretense that he had actually seen most of the movie, which was a complete fallacy. As the movie ended, they packed up and drove back to the house, leaving behind one of the best dates they had both been on. Tristan opened the door and watched Rory walk inside. As he put the basket down in the foyer, Rory turned to face him.

"Did you have a good time tonight?" He asked. She nodded slowly before leaning up on her toes to kiss him, her arms finding their way around his neck.

"There's only one way to make it better." She said softly.

"Oh yeah?" He kissed her again. "You think you can do better than Casablanca in Paris, huh?" He said, pressing her against the nearest wall.

"I think I can come up with something." She whispered.


	5. Chapter 5

Rory's hand lay over Tristan's heart, feeling the pounding against her palm. He smiled and kissed the top of her head as she placed it on his shoulder.

"What is this?" He asked as he picked up her hand, his fingers entwining in hers. "You always wear it." Rory smiled.

"This," she paused, "is my charm bracelet. My mother gave it to me when I graduated from Chilton. She told me that whenever I have a life changing moment, I had to dedicate a charm to that event."

"And what charms do you have?" Tristan said.

"Well, C, that's clearly for Chilton." She said with a smile. "And this Y stands for Yale. I got that when I graduated." She twisted the bracelet and picked up another charm. "The sail boat is Logan's charm." She said, an uninterpretable mix of sadness and nostalgic fondness in her voice.

"A sail boat? Was he a sailor?" Rory smiled.

"It's a very long story, but Logan and boats, they're always connected." She said, refusing to tell him anymore. He accepted her silence, but he was curious. He made a mental note to remember the subject for a later date.

"And what is that, a typewriter?" He asked, continuing on as if he had gotten an answer.

"Uh-huh. I got it when I got my first job as a writer after graduation." He smiled as he analyzed the charm. "And I got the coffee mug when my mom married Luke. He owns the diner in town." She smiled at him. "So. What's on your bracelet?" She asked, being metaphorical. Tristan pondered. "Nessa, I bet." He nodded, as if that were common sense.

"My grandparents, the military. You would most definitely be on it." Tristan said as he looked into her eyes.

"Really?" She asked, totally surprised. He nodded.

"You would be…" he paused as if to really consider it. "You would be a mirror." Rory smiled.

"Why?" The question was immense and hard to answer.

"When you first came to Chilton, I was a wreck." She giggled. "No I'm serious. I started playing the game, you know? I dated the girls I was supposed to date, I hung out with the people I was supposed to hang out with. Suddenly, I had a persona, and I couldn't or didn't want to change it."

"Why would you? You were the King." Rory teased.

"And then you appeared and said one word. No." Rory smiled. "You were so different, and proud of it. You were honest and saw the truth in everyone, even when they didn't want to see it in themselves. It was so unnerving, you seeing us the way that you did. It's why Paris hated you, it's why I tried to win you over, we wanted you to be wrong about us." His statement took her by surprise. "In some weird way I figured that if I could get to you, you wouldn't be perfect anymore. I mean, no one could really be that pure."

"I was." Rory said, hiding her head in the pillow.

"You were." He smiled. "And when I called you out on being odd, you took it as a compliment." He smiled. "I didn't realize it at the time, but I think that meeting you allowed me to change in the long run."

"You're giving me too much credit." She sighed.

"Maybe. But I do know that you were the first person to teach me that my act only worked on an audience. I let my guard down, that night at the party, I was weak and vulnerable and insecure, which I was all the time in high school, but I let you see it, and you… you were kind and sweet, and annoyingly persistent in making sure that I was okay. You cared." He said. "You saw the real me, and you still cared. Even after everything that I had done to you." He sighed. "I didn't know it then, but you changed me."

"You know, you changed me too." Rory admitted quietly.

"What?" He said. He had just poured his heart out to this girl, telling her his deepest and most private thoughts. His personal journey, for God's sake. And here she was, saying that she felt the same way about him? That couldn't be right.

"You were the first person to challenge me. I mean, really look me in the eye and call my bluff, even if I wasn't bluffing. You were the first person to see me as an adult, as a woman, as an object to be had." Rory said.

"That's not exactly a proud moment, Ror." He said, hating himself for it.

"No, but up until that time, I was sweet and childlike and people used hushed tones around me to protect my innocent ears from hearing about the big wide world." She said, being overly dramatic, but getting her point across. "Sure, I watched the news and read more books than most, but people treated me like a five year old princess. You didn't. You broke that shell wide open and, while I may have hated you for it," she paused to watch him smile "you, Paris, that school, you made me tough. You prepared me for the real world outside of Stars Hollow and my naïve views of people and the world. You showed me who I really was, underneath the halo." Tristan took a deep breath as he pondered what she was telling him.

"This conversation just went a lot deeper than I originally planned." Tristan said.

"Blame the bracelet." Rory said as she shook her wrist at him. Tristan smiled.

"You're a great reporter."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I don't know how you do it, but I look at you and spill my guts. I never would talk to anyone the way I'm talking to you."

"It's my face. People trust me. How much damage could I possibly do with this face?" She pointed to herself in her most angelic face.

"You ever heard of Helen of Troy?" Tristan asked, only slightly kidding. Rory laughed and slapped him playfully.

OOOOO

As Rory awoke, the plane was landing in New York. She sighed, unhappy to be back in the States after such a whirlwind adventure in Europe. Tristan glanced over to her and smiled.

"We're home." He told her and she nodded, knowing that it was time to get back to reality. She reset her watch. It was Monday night, all over again. They were both so exhausted that they didn't say anything else until they had gotten their bags and were walking to the door of the airport.

"Do you want to share a cab?" Tristan asked.

"Where are you going?" She asked, realizing she had never been to his place before. They both laughed.

"Manhattan." He said with a smile. She nodded and got into the next cab. She waited for Tristan to give his address and then she leaned back and tried to relax. Tristan took her hand gently and ran his fingers over her palm, causing her to close her eyes. When she opened them again, she was surprised to see Tristan watching her intensely.

"What?" She asked. He just smiled and shook his head.

"You're beautiful." She blushed a little at his direct comment. They pulled up to his apartment and he sighed. Tristan handed the driver enough money to pay for both rides and he got out of the car. She wanted more than anything to come in with him, but she knew that they had to part eventually. She got out to say goodbye.

"Thank you so much for coming with me this weekend." She said.

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world." She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug.

"Get some sleep huh?" She smiled.

"Do you want to come in for a bit?" He asked, hopeful that she would say yes without thinking about it. She sighed, and he knew that she was already thinking.

"If I do, I'll never leave." She repeated his own words back to him.

"That can be arranged." He said, okay with her staying forever. She chuckled and shook her head.

"You've got work tomorrow, you need your sleep. I'll see you soon." She said, more to comfort herself than him. He kissed her once, long and soft, before turning around and walking into his building. Despite the fact that her head was spinning, she somehow made her way back into the cab.

"Where to?" The cab driver asked. Rory didn't hear him. "Miss?"

"Hmm?" Rory asked.

"Where to?" Rory quickly apologized and gave him her address. As she tried to think back on all of her relationships, she wondered where this one fit in with the rest. She had never felt like this before, especially right away. She felt a little foolish, actually. She was halfway home when she got a text.

**Missing you already – Tristan**

She smiled and texted him back.

**Ditto. Sweet dreams ;) – Mary**

Tristan groaned at her response.

**Why didn't you come in again?**

She giggled and texted the first response she thought of.

**Because I've already stolen you from your work twice. Now get some sleep! **

She made it all the way inside her apartment before getting the next text.

**Did you make it home okay?**

She smiled.

**Yep. Just walked in. Going to take a long shower, have to scrub the airplane smell out of my skin.**

He typed back his response and hit send, waiting to see what her reaction would be. Rory read his text and blushed profusely.

**I'm about to take a shower myself, but for a very different purpose.**

Rory smiled and decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

**You've clearly never seen my shower head.**

His response was immediate.

**Fjklieabinlkdruv**

She smiled at his gibberish.

**Goodnight Tristan. **

He shook his head. What a tease, he thought. However, there was a part of him that didn't care if she was kidding or not, because he was headed to the shower with enough images to last a lifetime.

OOOOO

Lorelei and Rory arrived for Friday night dinner five minutes late. She knew because her grandmother opened the door instead of the maid. With a quick glance to her watch, Emily simply allowed them to pass through the door.

"Hi Mom, how are things?" Lorelei asked facetiously as she took off her coat.

"Please, we have guests tonight Lorelei." Emily whispered, shutting down her daughter's smug tone in an instant. Rory and Lorelei glanced at each other briefly before following Emily's footsteps into the living room. "The girls are finally here." Emily told the group in the living room. Rory glanced to see who the surprise guests of honor were that Emily was so keen on keeping up appearances with.

"Hello." She said with a big smile as Tristan and his grandparents were sitting on the opposite couch.

"Hello darling. How was your trip to London?" Claire asked, a knowing glint in her eye.

"Rory, you didn't tell us you were traveling to London!" Richard proclaimed, shocked as he handed Lorelei her drink.

"Thanks Dad. I'm great." Lorelei said to no one as she took the cocktail from her father.

"It was just a quick business trip. Tristan and I actually flew together." She said with a fake smile.

"Is that what they are calling it these days?" Lorelei muttered under her breath so that only Rory and Tristan could here. She smiled victoriously as she got Tristan to choke on his drink.

"Tristan, are you okay?" Emily asked.

"Just fine Emily. Thank you." He gave Lorelei a close call look and went back to discussing the trip.

"Dinner is ready, Mrs. Gilmore." The new maid smiled. As everyone stood up to head for the dining room, Tristan and Rory stayed behind.

"Behave." Rory scolded her mother before turning around to greet her boyfriend. "What are you doing here?"

"I have no idea. I was told that I was to be at my grandparents' house by seven, so I was. They brought me here, unknowingly. Surprised to see me?"

"Very, but glad." She said with a brief kiss. "Sorry about my mom. She's in a feisty mood tonight. I think it's the full moon."

"Noted." He muttered as they entered the dining room.

"So, Tristan. What is it that you do?" Emily asked as everyone sat down.

"I'm an architect. I work for a firm in New York designing houses."

"Very interesting." Richard smiled. "With both of you living in New York, I'm sure that you get to see each other quite frequently." Rory glanced at Tristan. How much did they know?

"We've had dinner a couple of times." Tristan said. "We just ran into each other for the first time at your birthday party." He informed Emily.

"Well, I'm glad to bring two old friends together." Emily said, tickled with herself as if the idea were entirely hers. Lorelei knew that she would love to take credit for the match. As soon as dinner was over, Richard and Janlan went into his office to talk business as usual. After the coffee was poured for the remaining guests, Emily turned to Tristan.

"I'm sure you two would rather be on your own than sitting here with a bunch of old women. It's such a lovely night, why don't you two finish your coffee out on the patio?" Tristan heard the scoff from Lorelei at the term old but turned to Rory anyway.

"You interested?" He asked.

"Sure." She nodded, picking up her coffee cup.

"No, no. Don't leave Mommy." Lorelei begged.

"Karma." Rory sang under her breath as she stood up. Tristan smirked and let her lead the way.

"Okay, so were they setting us up a second time?" Tristan asked as soon as they were out on the patio.

"I don't know." She said with a giggle. With a glance towards the windows, Tristan leaned in and kissed her.

"I missed you." He exhaled.

"Me too."

"Do you have any plans after this?" Rory shook her head. "Want to…" She nodded before he had time to finish his question "meet at my place?" He finished with a smile.

"How was the rest of your week?" She asked him, trying to change the subject before they got caught up in something they couldn't get out of.

"It was fine." He said with a shrug. "How was yours? Any more leads on your story?" She shook her head.

"I finished it and sent it off. Now I'm just waiting for the next story to come along."

"Where can I read it?" He asked. Rory looked at him surprised.

"You want to read it?" He nodded.

"Of course I do. You're a great writer."

"How would you know?"

"I read some of your pieces that I found online." She smiled.

"You cyber-stalked me?"

"Maybe a little." He admitted.

"I don't know why, but I'm feeling flattered."

"Good." He said. "Come on, I've got a very important conference call in the morning." He made up.

"On a Saturday?"

"Good point. Um, golf with the partners?"

"Much better." She said. "Seriously, when did you stop learning how to lie?"

"Probably around the time you learned." He said as he picked up their coffee cups and followed her into the house.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

When Tristan said that he had money, but didn't have access to it directly, he clearly had forgotten to mention the fact that his father gave him whatever he wanted. Rory watched as the doorman slid his card into the elevator for Tristan, allowing him to take the elevator up to the top of his building, to Tristan's penthouse.

"This is like something out of Pretty Woman." Rory smiled as she stepped off the elevator and into the hallway. "You didn't tell me you owned the whole floor."

"I didn't realize it made a difference." Tristan said without turning around. As he unlocked the door, he opened it and held it open for her.

"Why thank you." She said haughtily as she passed him by without a glance. Tristan smiled and shut the door. "Wow." She said, taking in the fireplace. "This place is insane." She said, running her hand along the back of the couch. Tristan shrugged.

"I like it."

"Me too." She said.

"Would you like a tour of the rest of the place?" She nodded. "Alright then, come on." He said with a wave of his hand. "The kitchen." He said, pointing it out as they walked by. Rory just stuck her head into the room quickly and kept up as he walked down the hall. "The main bathroom is right here." He said opening the door. "Down here is my office. This is where I do most of my drawing and brainstorming. I could never get used to working in a real office." Rory smiled, loving the fact that he hadn't changed that much from high school. She walked in, wanting to see something in particular that had caught her eye.

"What is this?" Rory asked as she saw a design drawn on a scrap of notebook paper framed on his wall above his desk.

"That," He said with a small but proud smile. "is my first house."

"You designed this?" She asked. He nodded.

"I was sitting in class one day, and it just hit me. I had to scribble it down before I forgot. I tore a sheet of my notes off and just started drawing. As soon as I graduated, I met a couple who were looking to design a cottage upstate and I showed them…well it was a much better, more detailed version of this one of course, but they loved it." He said with a proud smile. "It looks great now. It's surrounded by forest. Very picturesque."

"That's amazing, that you can create something from nothing and it's built right before your eyes." She said in awe as she wrapped her arms around him. "You're a genius."

"I don't know about that." He said as he followed her lead and enveloped her in a hug.

"Are you working on anything right now?" She asked.

"Well, for work I'm working on an office building in Jersey." He said, sounding less than enthusiastic. "But," he said as she let him go to his desk. "I've been working on this for quite some time." He took a sketchpad out of a drawer, opened the cover, and handed it to her. She smiled as she looked at the first page. It was a two story colonial home that Rory fell in love with the instant she saw it.

"Oh my God." She said. "It's beautiful." Tristan was watching her reaction with intense interest. He found himself wanting to know what she thought of the house. She turned the page and saw the backyard patio and pool. "Who is this for?"

"Me." Tristan said simply. "It's my dream house." She stopped and looked at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah." She went back to the front of the house and smiled.

"It's a pretty big house. Are you planning on having a family?"

"Maybe." He shrugged. "Who knows."

"I know that this sounds crazy," she said as she craned her neck to get a better look at the page, "but I can see a lot of you in this house." He smiled.

"That's a good thing." He said. "I try and match the personality of the client with the design."

"Well, I hope that you get it someday." She said, closing the book and handing it back to him.

"Me too." He said.

"I'm glad that you brought me here." She said, turning around to face him again.

"I'm glad that you came." He said. He watched as she took him in and slowly moved closer towards him, an ember of naughtiness glowing in her eyes.

"You got a bedroom in this place DuGray?" She asked. Tristan just nodded slowly before taking her hand and leading the way out of his office.

OOOOO

"Do you mind if I use your tub?" She asked. "My muscles need to relax." Tristan smiled and shook his head.

"I think there's some soap under the sink." He said. She kissed him before getting out of bed, her naked body proud under his gaze. She left the door to the bathroom open so he could watch from the bed, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by him. She turned on the tap, tested the water and Tristan couldn't believe how lucky he was to be with her, to be able to watch her in his house. She hummed as she poured some soap into the running water and replaced the cap again. She noticed as she replaced the bottle that, besides Tristan's items, there was also a set of shampoo and conditioner, and some makeup remover under the sink. She glanced at Tristan.

"Do you take a lot of lavender bubble baths?" She asked as she stepped into the tub.

"No." He shook his head, realizing that he probably should have just reached into the cupboard and gotten her the soap himself.

"Hmm, what about make up? Do you have some hobbies you would like to fill me in on?" She asked, teasing him. He got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. He opened the door again and pulled the products out one by one and threw them into the garbage can.

"Better?" He asked. Rory's curious furrow in her brow told him that he needed to explain.

"Tris," She paused. "Did someone used to live here with you?" She asked, her voice light, but patronizing. Tristan didn't answer, simply turned on the jets of the tub for her. The gentle whirring noise broke the silence before Tristan did.

"I wouldn't say lived here, but was here often, yes." Rory didn't say anything, waiting for him to continue. Tristan looked like he didn't want to talk about it.

"What?" Rory said. "I told you all of my horrible stories, and you even met my fiancé. How bad could your story be?" He smiled.

"It's not bad, it's just…" He paused, not knowing where to start. "Her name was Natalie." Rory was attentive, wanting to know every detail about this woman. "I didn't love her." He wanted her to know. "And she didn't love me, but we clicked, you know? We worked so well together, it was easy." He thought for a second. "It was like playing house, we pretended that we were in love because we thought that we should be."

"How long were you together?" Rory wanted to know.

"A year." Tristan said, still unable to believe it. "It shouldn't have lasted half that long."

"When did you break up?" She asked.

"A couple months ago. I completely forgot about that stuff under there until you wanted to take a bath tonight. All of my stuff is in the shower."

"Second hand bubble bath from an ex." She crinkled her nose, suddenly not wanting to be in the tub. "You should have warned me."

"And miss seeing you getting in the tub? Never." He said with a smile.

"Who else?" Rory asked, hoping that he was in the mood to talk about this stuff.

"No one else."

"This woman was the only person that you saw in seven years? I find that very hard to believe."

"She was the only woman that mattered in seven years, besides you." He added, not trying to sweeten her up but honestly meaning it. "The rest were, well, short lived." Rory looked at him again. "I don't let a lot of people in, Ror. I never have. But when it comes to you, well, I've always let you in."

"You have." She said, agreeing with him. "I find it very hard to believe what you're telling me. You've been nothing but direct and honest the entire time that I've known you. Shockingly so." He smiled. How could someone who was so honest be so closed off to people?

"I've always been an 'all or nothing' kind of guy." He said.

"I guess." Rory said with a chuckle. "But that's okay. I like that guy."

"You do?" She nodded.

"I do. And it has nothing to do with the fact that he has an amazing tub in his master bath." She added.

"Oh good. I was worried." He deadpanned.

"But you may have a hard time getting me out of here." She said as she slid a little lower and cranked up the bubble production.

"That's perfectly fine with me." He said, gesturing for her to move so he could join her.

OOOOO

"Argh. I need to go home, change clothes, be human again." Rory said as she glanced over at Tristan. "I've been here thirty six hours, do you realize that?" She told him. "I've got work tomorrow."

"I thought we solved that problem when I gave you some of my clothes." Tristan said, pulling her back down into bed.

"So, I'm never leaving then? I'm just going to spend the rest of my days, having sex, eating take out, confined forever to this amazing bed" Rory said as she snuggled up tighter in his sheets. Tristan smiled.

"Sounds good to me." He teased. "Hey, you do realize that you have more than enough, how shall I say this, resources, to create your own amazing bed and your own amazing bathroom." He pointed out.

"Mmhm, but I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I can't. Years of growing up surviving from paycheck to paycheck have ruined me for life. I can't enjoy money. I actually feel guilty every time I look at my bank statements."

"That's the saddest thing I've ever heard." Tristan said honestly.

"I know…but it's true." She said with a sigh. "I can't spend money and I have to leave you today." She said, summing up their conversation.

"You are officially one of the most depressing people I have ever met." He said.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

"Thanks for doing this with me Rory. I must admit, Tristan is quite impossible to buy presents for. I'm hoping a young person might be able to point me in the right direction."

"Well at least you called, I would have never known it was his birthday at all." She said, still upset with him.

"He's as stubborn as his father, but you didn't hear that from me." Rory smiled.

"Your secret is safe with me."

"You know, there was another reason why I wanted to chat with you. Tristan seems to be happier than he's ever been. I credit you with that." Claire noticed. "I hope that you feel the same way?"

"I do." She said, unable to hide her elated smile at the mere mention of his name.

"Good. I'm glad to hear things are going so well. Janlan and I couldn't be more pleased with this."

"Well, we owe a large part of our relationship to the both of you."

"Nonsense. Although I'm sure my husband would gladly take the credit."

"Yes. He would." Rory smiled. "Tristan's like Janlan that way, but you didn't hear it from me." Claire laughed and nodded.

"Oh speak of the devil." Rory said as her phone began to ring. "Hey stranger."

"Hey. How are you?"

"I'm great. And yourself? How's the project going?" She asked, wanting to know how long he was going to be away from her. She hadn't seen him in almost two weeks.

"It will be done soon, but not soon enough." He said. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"No, why?"

"You sound weird, where are you?" Tristan asked.

"I'm shopping in Hartford with Claire."

"Claire as in my seventy-eight year old grandmother Claire?" Rory laughed at Tristan's confusion.

"Yeah, who else?" Rory asked.

"Why are you hanging out with my grandmother?" He asked.

"Tristan, you knew that I was friends with your grandparents, that's how we met again, remember?" She said, laughter in her voice.

"Friends with, yes. Shopping partners, no."

"Does it bother you?" She asked, wanting him to feel comfortable.

"That my twenty-four year old girlfriend is hanging out with my grandmother? Not any more than you would think."

"Well, we had some mutual gifts to buy." Rory said, letting him know why they were together. "And if we hadn't been friends, I would have never known that it was your birthday next week, and it's not just any birthday, it's your 'I've lived for a quarter of a century' birthday! You wouldn't have gotten any presents!"

"I don't need any presents." He said, rolling his eyes. Rory paused and walked away from Claire, pointing to something on the other side of the department that she wanted to look at.

"Not all presents come in a box, Tristan." She said coyly.

"Tell me that my grandmother didn't just hear you say that." He begged. She laughed.

"No, she didn't."

"Thank God."

"Why did you call me in the first place?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to get dinner tonight, maybe rent a movie or two."

"Well, you've been so busy lately, I kind of made plans to play chess with Janlan tonight." She teased.

"You know what? You're mean. I changed my mind. I'm going to call my other girlfriend and ask her." He said.

"Hey! Now who's being mean?" She pouted.

"Come over around six?" He smiled.

"Deal." She said. "I'll see you then." She hung up her phone and took one more look at shirt in front of her before picking it up.

"That's nice. I hope that it's for you and not for my grandson." Claire said.

"Your grandson is coming up for air from all the work that he has been doing lately and we have a date tonight. Do you think he'll like it?"

"I think that as long as you are the one wearing it, he won't complain."

OOOOO

When Tristan opened the door to Rory that evening, she had completely changed his mind about their plans. His eyes scanned down her body, starting with her shirt, which was a white buttoned down blouse that was tailored to fit her perfectly. Next came the denim skirt that left little to the imagination and made her legs seem endless. Her small pedicured feet were adorned with a pair of sandals with a small heel. Her hair was down and curly and Tristan wanted nothing more than to rip open the shirt and ravish her.

"Hey." She said so casually that he actually stared at her to see if she was kidding. "So I brought a couple choices and I figured that I would let you pick." She said setting the movies out on the coffee table. He still hadn't said anything so she turned to look at him. "What's wrong?" She asked. He didn't say anything, but he moved towards her and put his hands on her waist.

"Are you trying to kill me?" He asked, nodding towards her outfit. She glanced down and stared at him like he was crazy.

"What, this?" She asked. He nodded slowly and kissed her intensely, taking her breath away. She pulled away. "Tris," she giggled at his attack on her, "they're just clothes." He shook his head.

"Those are not 'just clothes'." He said as he air quoted her words. "You look smoking hot."

"Well thank you." She said with a smile. "I wasn't expecting that reaction, but I'm glad that you like it."

"I do." He said appreciatively. She watched as he kept his eyes on her body, despite the fact that the conversation was over. If this is what he was like when she wasn't trying, how was he going to react when she did try to look sexy?

"You're not going to pay attention to any movie until you get laid, are you?" Rory sighed.

"I can't promise anything." He said honestly. She smiled but rolled her eyes. She went back to placing the movies on the table and Tristan's phone started ringing.

"Son of a…" He muttered as he picked it up. "Hello?" He paused and Rory watched him intently. "Yeah, but…" He closed his eyes. "No. John, that's not what we planned." He said as he walked into his study and pulled out a set of blueprints. "Well, it's got to be exact otherwise I'm not doing it." He sighed and rolled his eyes at Rory as he set the plans on his desk and started running his finger over them. She smirked and started unbuttoning her shirt slowly. "Look, can we do this at another time? I'm a little busy." She removed it and tossed it onto his desk covering the blueprint. Tristan collapsed into his chair, unable to stand up at the sight of her. "Look, John, I'm going to have to call you back, okay?" Rory nodded as she kicked off her skirt. She walked up behind him and ran her hands down his chest, opening his shirt. "I'm sorry, I can't have this conversation right now. I'll call you back. Bye." Tristan said hanging up the phone. Rory took it from him and turned it off.

"Are you actually going to call him back?" Rory asked with a smirk. He shook his head and for his reward, Rory kissed her way down his jaw. "Because I could stop if you wanted." She whispered from behind him.

"Don't you dare." He muttered as he took her hand off of his chest and kissed her palm. She smiled at the sweet gesture. However, he revealed his true self, when he held on to her and spun himself around so that he was facing her. "Gotcha." He said when she tried to pull her hand away from him.

"I hate military school." She pouted, knowing that she was too weak to fight him. He laughed and stood up. He pulled off his shirt and threw it on the desk with hers and Rory was struck with the glorious sight of his chest and abs. She sighed. "Maybe hate was too strong of a word." She said, allowing her eyes and her hands to glaze over his skin.

"Maybe." He smirked, his muscles flexing underneath her touch. He leaned in to kiss her when the door buzzed. He rested his forehead on hers and groaned. "I can't win tonight." He sighed. She grinned at his incredibly poor timing.

"Come on Romeo, food's waiting." Rory said as she threw his shirt back at him. The door buzzed again as Tristan broke away to let the delivery guy in the door. Rory put her own shirt back on and headed for the kitchen.

OOOOO

"Please Rob? It's his birthday and I know that you recognize me. I've been here almost daily."

"That's not the issue, Miss Gilmore. I'm not allowed to let anyone up there."

"You're going to deny him his birthday surprise just because of some little rule?"

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do." Rory sighed and pulled out her wallet.

"How much?"

"Miss Gilmore…"

"How much?" She asked.

"That's not what I meant." Rory gave him her pleading eyes but it wasn't working. Suddenly, she got an idea. She let her belt on her coat fall open. She pretended it was an accident but opened one side of her jacket to reveal her outfit underneath quickly before adjusting it and tightening the belt around her waist. Rob glanced at her before lowering his eyes and coming back up to meet hers. He turned a bright red.

"I do security checks in a few minutes. If you happened to be on the elevator, I guess I couldn't stop you from getting out on a certain floor."

"Rob, you're the greatest."

OOOOO

"Happy Birthday Mr. DuGray." Rob said with a slight blush as he slid his card into the elevator for him.

"Thank you." He said, slightly confused. "Hey, how did you know that?" Tristan asked. The doorman didn't answer. As Tristan unlocked his door, he set down his things and went to hang up his jacket, but there was already one hanging on the hook. He paused. Someone was in his house. The birthday wish from Rob now made sense. He glanced down the hallway. His bedroom door was closed. "Ror, get out here." He called out, his voice stern as he turned around to hang up his jacket over hers. "I told you no…." He stopped mid sentence as he saw her. "presents." He finished, his voice hoarse.

"I took the liberty to ignore your request." She said, walking up to him and loosening his tie. "I also took the liberty of cancelling your reservations tonight." She said, removing the tie for him. He kept his hands to himself, unable to find out if he was dreaming or if this was real. When his hands finally found the courage to touch her hips, she didn't disappear. Apparently, this was real. "Do you like it?" She asked as she continued undressing him. He removed her hands from his body and nodded as he turned her around and pushed her towards the bedroom.

With Rory leading the way, he took the time to examine the back half of her ensemble. It was a miracle he didn't have a stroke. She had kicked her heels off in the hallway and he had to make a conscious effort to step over them so he didn't trip. Rory stood in front of his bed and for the first time, Tristan got the full picture of what she had planned. There were candles on the dresser and the light was softly reflecting in the mirror, lighting up the rest of the room with a hazy glow. Rory's usually pale skin was glowing orange in the dark light. Her red and black corseted number was silk and lace and gave her more cleavage than Tristan had thought possible on her small frame.

"Sit down." She said, motioning to the bed. He did, unsure of what was about to happen. She started undressing him slowly. "Did you have a good day?" She asked as she removed his shirt from his body.

"You want to talk about my day? Looking like that?" He asked her as she moved behind him.

"Not really, you just look a little tense." She said, rubbing his shoulder.

"Take it as a compliment." He said, closing his eyes. "It's taking all of my will power to not jump you right now." Rory smiled as she kissed his shoulder blade before returning to her place before him.

"You could if you wanted. It is your birthday after all." She reminded him.

"Somehow, I think you have something better planned." She smiled and nodded as she kneeled down and removed his pants and boxers from his legs. Tristan watched as she removed the rest of his clothing and waited for her to stand back up in front of him, but she didn't. She smiled as she threw her hair behind her and softly kissed the head of his penis. The warm sensation sent contractions through Tristan's already tense muscles.

"Jesus, Rory." He moaned at her brave actions. She took more of him within her mouth, letting her tongue dance around his tip. At this, Tristan lost any semblance of control. He had been composed since he had walked in the door and he couldn't do it any longer. He fell back on the bed, unable to hold himself up. Rory ran her hands down the front of his hips and tickled his balls as she sucked harder. His right hand found her hair as he fisted his fingers in her soft locks. "Yes…" He murmured. His unintelligible moans only drove her on faster, her power increasing with every incomplete syllable that fell out of his mouth. He thrust himself into her mouth and she took as much of him into her as she could. He bit down on his hand as he felt his orgasm approaching.

"Ror…" He managed to get out. Instead of pulling away from him, she sucked him harder and faster. "Rory!" He cried out again as he came hard, spilling into her. His body fell limp as he sank deep into his comforter. Rory watched as he lay paralyzed on his bed, except for his heaving chest moving up and down as he gasped for air. She climbed up the bed to check his face. When it seemed like he was going to be okay again, she kissed his neck.

"Happy birthday." She whispered in his ear. He scoffed as a small disbelieving smile flashed across his lips.

"You're going to kill me." He croaked. "I swear to God." He reached for her hand and put it over his heart, which was still beating wildly.

"I wouldn't want that to happen." She said softly as she pressed her lips against his chest.

"Even so…" He said. She waited until he had returned to a normal state before looking at him.

She put her hand on his cheek, letting her thumb cover his lips to silence him.

"I wouldn't want that, because I'm in love you." She said, half-expecting him to freak out. He didn't say anything, simple turned them over so that he was on top of her. He kissed her forehead lightly, before his lips slowly strayed further south, placing kisses on both of her eyelids, her nose, and her chin. He was reverential of her, adoring even. When he stopped, she slowly opened her eyes to find him staring at her.

"You know, I think I've been waiting seven years for you to say that." He said honestly, letting his fingertip slowly trace a line down her collarbone. "And it was worth every second of the wait." He said as he sucked and nibbled on the skin in the crook of her neck. Meanwhile, his hands had crept around her and had slowly begun untying the ribbon that held the back of the corset together. She sighed as he removed her top and slid her panties off her legs. She shivered at his touch, his rough hand caressing her soft thigh. He adjusted her hips to meet his own and she unconsciously opened herself up to him, needing to feel him inside of her at last. He reached down and stroked her wet folds slowly, causing her mouth to open and her eyes to close. He repeated the action, wanting to watch her reaction again. This time, a small whimper of pleasure escaped her throat.

"Tris," Her breathy sigh making him smirk. While he was dying to immerse himself within her, he wanted her to feel everything that she had stirred in him earlier.

"We've got all night Ror." He reminded her as he slid his way down her body.

OOOOO

"That was not what I was expecting when I walked through the front door tonight." Tristan muttered.

"You really do still see me as Mary, don't you?" Rory said. He nodded.

"Always. Even if you sneak into my apartment in lingerie that could kill a man." She smiled. "Speaking of which, how did you get in?" He asked. She smirked.

"My jacket may have 'accidently' fallen open when Rob was refusing to let me come up." He shook his head as he glanced over to the pile of lingerie on the ground.

"You wore that over here?" He asked, shocked.

"I knew I wouldn't have time to change and still surprise you. Don't worry. I packed a bag." She said. "I figured that the lingerie may not make it out alive."

"When did you get to be so scandalous?" He asked, both surprised and pleased by this new discovery. She giggled and shrugged. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I like it." He said with a smile. "I just had no idea."

"Did you have a good birthday?" She asked, changing the subject.

"The best."

"And not that it matters, because I know the date now and this will never happen again, but would you agree that it is better to tell people about your birthday?" He didn't answer her, simply smiled.

"That depends, are you going to be around for my next birthday?" It was a loaded question, and judging by the way that he couldn't look her in the eye and he was suddenly playing with her fingers, he knew it. Rory paused, not sure what answer he was looking for.

"I hope so." She said, not realizing what she had just suggested to him by her comment about the future. Was it possible that they would still be together in a year?

"Then it won't be an issue, will it?" He said. She shook her head once. They both took in the information, but didn't say anything further. "Come on, we need sleep." He said. "We've got lunch with my grandparents tomorrow."


	8. Chapter 8

"Hello?" Tristan called out in the foyer of his grandparents' house. "Anybody home?"

"Tristan, don't yell. People are going to think you were raised in a barn." Claire scolded.

"But it's my birthday?" Tristan said with a guilty smile.

"Yesterday." Rory pointed out as she watched Tristan hug his grandmother.

"Traitor." He mumbled and Claire slapped his shoulder.

"Be nice."

"Yes ma'am." He said sullenly. "Where's Gramps?"

"In his study, where else? Rory, he wanted to show you a new book that he just got."

"Excellent. Lead the way." She said to Tristan.

OOOOO

Tristan emerged in the kitchen ten minutes later.

"Still talking?" Claire asked.

"I got a 'Hello', and then they were off to the bookshelf. They haven't even gotten past the allegorical meaning of the title." He said shaking his head. "I couldn't take it anymore."

"That's okay, come here. I want to show you something myself." She said, opening a drawer in the desk she was sitting at. "I got this from my mother. I want Rory to have it. Do you think she would take it?" Tristan finally looked up from the small pearl he was cradling in his hand.

"You want to give this to Rory?"

"I never had a daughter, or a granddaughter for that matter. I want to pass it on."

"Grandma, that's extremely generous, but she won't take it, at least not right now." He said, handing it back to her. "Her birthday is in November, give it to her then." Claire smiled.

"She'll be around in November then." She asked more than stated.

"I think she's going to be around for quite some time, yes."

"Good, a girl like Rory, well, a man could do worse." Claire said, putting the necklace back into the drawer.

"But not better." Tristan said.

"Sorry." Rory apologized as she entered the room. "We bibliophiles get carried away sometimes."

"Sometimes?" Tristan said, raising his eyebrow. "We were going to start lunch without you two."

"It was my fault. I was the one who bought the book." Janlan said.

"Such a gentleman, but I know better." Tristan said, glancing at his girlfriend. "You could build a maximum security prison out of all of her books." Rory gave a guilty smile.

"Yeah, but you love me anyway." She said.

"Everyone outside, lunch is ready on the patio." Claire said, breaking up the conversation.

OOOOO

About halfway through the meal, Rory's cell phone went off.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot I had it on." She apologized as she tried to turn it off.

"That's okay dear. It might be important." Claire said.

"It's work." She told the table. "Excuse me."

"Why does that sound so ominous?" Janlan asked his grandson.

"It probably means that there was just an international incident and Rory will be on a plane in a few hours." He sighed. She hadn't been called away for anything serious during the time that they had been together, so Tristan hadn't had to worry. But from the look on her face as she paced in the house, it was his time to start. She emerged again and gave him the face.

"Where to?"

"Someone just tried to bomb the American embassy in Saudi Arabia. I've got to go. I'm so sorry. This was lovely and I promise when I get back I will make it up to you." She said as she tried to exit as gracefully as she could.

"Ror, wait up. I'm your ride." Tristan reminded her.

"No, stay here, don't let me interrupt your lunch. I called a taxi."

"Hey. Look at me. Do you even know where you are going?"

"Um, I don't. I know I can get as far as Istanbul, but after that, my contacts get a little sketchy."

"Rory." He scolded her.

"Tristan, this is my job. This is what I do." The taxi pulled into the drive and honked its horn. "I'm sorry. I'll call you as soon as I can." She said as she kissed him briefly. "I love you."

"Love you too." He muttered as she nodded and ran out the door.

OOOOO

Tristan knew that Rory was smart, but he couldn't help but think of all the ways that a girl like her could get into trouble. His phone finally rang at seven the next morning.

"Hey, did I wake you?" Rory asked.

"No, I'm up." Tristan said, lying as he glanced at the clock. "Where are you?"

"Athens, I've got a layover."

"And where are you headed?"

"Riyadh." Tristan sighed.

"Have you slept at all?"

"A little on the plane." She lied for him. "Were Janlan and Claire upset when I left?"

"No, of course not. They were worried. We all are." He added.

"Don't be. I'll be fine."

"How long are you going to stay? And if you say as long as it takes…" He trailed off. She smiled, despite her exhaustion.

"A few days. Not a minute longer than necessary."

"Okay, come back in one piece please. That's all I ask."

"I will." She said, annoyed with his persistence. "That's my plane, I have to go."

"Alright, call if you can, and please don't do anything stupid." She scoffed.

"Who do you think you are talking to?" She asked. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye." He hung up. The pit in his stomach was still there, even after hearing her voice. He had no idea why he was feeling so protective over her. He trusted her, it was the others he didn't trust. He thought about Claire's necklace, lying in the drawer. She'll be here in November, he told himself as he closed his eyes.

OOOOO

As Tristan worked at his computer, CNN was turned on quietly in the background. It had been on permanently on his TV while she was away, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by his coworkers.

"Mr. DuGray?" His secretary stuck her head in his door.

"Yes?"

"Call on line one." He picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Tristan?"

"Yes."

"This is Lorelei, Rory's mom."

"Yes, of course. How are you? Is everything okay?"

"I don't know. I haven't heard from Rory in two days, that's not like her. Have you talked to her?"

"Not since she left Greece." He said, not realizing that she should have called by now. "How often does she usually call?"

"It depends on where she is, but she said that she would call soon and she hasn't. I guess I'm just freaking out and now I've probably got you freaking out too." She sighed.

"That I was doing on my own." He reassured her.

"This sucks." She said.

"How can you stand it? I mean, I know that this is my first time dealing with all of this, but you're her mother."

"I can't stop her. I've tried. And I only really worry about once a year when she does something like this. The rest of the time, she's completely out of harm's way. Now I've just got to sit here, night after night, and hope that all the scenarios running through my head are imaginary."

"Do you honestly think something is wrong?" He asked Lorelei.

"I don't know. I guess no news is good news? I haven't heard anything to make me think otherwise."

"Then, we can't think the worst." Tristan said, fully willing to delude himself. His cell phone started ringing and he glanced at it.

"Lorelei, she's calling my cell phone."

"I'll hold." She said. Tristan nodded and picked up his cell.

"Hello?" The anxiousness of his voice killed her.

"Hey."

"Where are you?"

"Riyadh."

"Did you feel your ears burning? I've got your mom on my other line. She was worried."

"Will you tell her that I'll call her later? I was going to call her next but it's like three am and I haven't slept."

"I will. You're safe?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, that's all we needed to know. Go sleep and call when you wake up."

"Bye." She hung up the phone before Tristan could get another word in.

"Lorelei?"

"Yeah?"

"She was just calling because she said she would. She's completely safe, but she sounded exhausted so I told her to sleep and she said she would call you later tonight when she woke up." Lorelei sighed.

"Thank you Tristan."

"Thank you. It's good to know that I'm not the only one going out of my mind over here."

"Trust me, you're not."

"Hey, the first one to hear from her next calls the other?" He requested.

"Absolutely."

"Thanks." Tristan smiled.

"Bye Tristan."

"Goodbye." He hung up his phone and glanced at his cell phone. She would call in a few hours and check in with Lorelei. It was enough to calm his nerves and allow him to finish his work for the day.


	9. Chapter 9

Lorelei jumped at the first sound of the phone ringing, grabbing the phone off of the coffee table.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hey mom, it's me." Lorelei sighed.

"Hey, how are you?"

"I'm fine. How are things back home?"

"The same. When are you coming home?"

"Soon." She said, but Lorelei noticed the lack of an answer. "Tristan told me that you called him earlier."

"I just wanted to know if you had called him instead of me. I hadn't heard from you kid, I was worried."

"You know how hard it is to keep in touch while I'm here." Her voice was laced with anxiety and Lorelei wasn't expecting it. Usually, she was the one freaking out.

"Are you okay?"

"I just, I don't want him to worry about me. I know that you have to worry. I mean, you're my mom; it's part of the deal,"

"But…"

"But he's new to this and he sounded so freaked out on the phone. I don't want you to scare him too."

"Of course he's freaked out, Rory! In less than ten minutes, you were on your way to the other side of the world to write about a group of terrorists."

"I know. I guess I just didn't expect such a strong reaction from him."

"You need to talk to him about this."

"And say what exactly?"

"Just feel him out. If he's not comfortable with all of this, you need to find out now. If everyone isn't on the same page, it's better to get out now before someone gets hurt." Like with Logan. Rory knew what was on the other side of the phrase, even if it went unspoken.

"Mom, I've got to go."

"Come home soon, kid."

"I will, bye." Rory knew that when she got back to the States, she and Tristan were going to have to talk about this. She cursed the timing of this trip. Things had been going so well for them lately. She hoped that when she got back, she could rectify things again.

OOOOO

Tristan was sitting at his desk, tapping away at his keyboard as he wrote up a proposal, when his secretary knocked on his door.

"Yes." He said without turning around.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you have a visitor." Tristan spun around to see who would be visiting him at work.

"Hi." Rory said, unsure whether or not she should be here at all. At just the sight of her, Tristan was standing and walking around his desk. He heard the door shut behind her, but he never took his eyes off of her. "I'm sorry, I just got in. I figured you would want to see that I kept my promise. See? One piece." She said with a smile as she held out her arms for inspection. When he still hadn't said anything, she half-expected him to scold her for not calling sooner. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her, holding her head to his shoulder.

"Thank you for keeping your promise." He said as he kissed the top of her head.

"Did I mention that I was sorry?" He pulled away to examine her face. His inquisitive look told her that she needed to continue. "I felt like I abandoned you. We never really talked about my leaving and then I just up and left…"

"You're safe. That's all that matters."

"Come over tonight?" He nodded. "I feel like there's a lot we need to talk about."

"I can be there in a couple of hours." He assured her. She nodded her okay and kissed him briefly once more before turning around.

OOOOO

Rory sighed as she turned once more to glance at the clock. She didn't even know what she was going to say to him. She hoped that when he got here, the words would come as well. She cracked open the bottle of wine that had been sitting on the table waiting for him. She couldn't wait any more. Just as she was swallowing her first sip, the door buzzed and she ran to greet him.

"Sorry I'm late. Traffic." He said as he took off his jacket.

"Don't worry about it. I did open the wine already though. Do you want some?"

"Sure." He said as he followed her into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass out of the cupboard and poured him a glass as he sat down at her table.

"To being home?" She toasted him.

"I'll drink to that." He smiled and took a sip. She sat down next to him.

"Ror, you don't have to say anything, you know."

"Yes I do." She argued. "But first, I have to know. How panicked were you when I just left like that?"

"I wasn't panicked because you left. I was panicked because you were leaving without any idea where you were going or how you were going to get there." She nodded, understanding that. "People trying to blow things up didn't help the matter."

"Okay. That's fair." She smiled.

"But it's your job, and you don't have to explain it to me. I know how important it is to you."

"I know, but I hated how worried you sounded when I talked to you."

"Rory, I love you. I'm going to worry about you. It's part of the deal. That doesn't mean that I'm going to try and stop you from doing what you love. It's like," he paused, "I was a soldier, but if I were still in the Guard, you wouldn't stop me from doing my job just because it was dangerous, would you?"

"No." She said softly.

"It's the same concept." He said.

"I suppose so." She said, but she didn't look satisfied.

"What?" He asked, reaching out to touch her hand.

"I always said that I was going to do this job as long as I still could. You know, before life got too complicated with a husband and kids." He smiled at the image. "I guess when I left like that, I felt like I was choosing the job over you, just like I chose the job over Logan." And with that small sentence, the truth about her concerns was revealed. This wasn't about him at all. Tristan sighed. "And I guess that I'm terrified that if I keep doing that, keep leaving, that I'm going to wake up some day in a foreign country and realize that I have run out of chances for a life here."

"Ror," He said, squeezing her hand. "You do not need to feel guilty for working. I know that after being in a relationship with a Huntzberger, it probably feels like second nature to you, but you're doing what you love. You're fulfilling a passion that you've had since you were a kid. That's nothing to be ashamed of. And anyone who truly loves you would always say the same."

"But I can't do both." She said.

"You can make anything work." He said, but she shook him off.

"As long as I'm working internationally, I'm going to get those calls. I hate doing it to my mother, I can't imagine doing it to my own children. I won't do that."

"What are you, pregnant?" He teased.

"What? No!"

"Well then, you've got plenty of time to sort this all out."

"Maybe. I just, I don't want to repeat my mistakes, you know?" He nodded.

"Well you don't have to worry about me. I may not like the idea of your little five foot six frame running around foreign countries all by yourself, but I would never stop you from doing it." He teased her.

"Are you calling me short?" She asked.

"Comparatively?" He shrugged. She shot him a dirty look and pulled her hand away from his. He smiled and took it back. "You know what?" She looked at him reluctantly, unable to deny him the attention. "I think that my grandparents are to blame for all this anxiety."

"Your grandparents?"

"Yes. My grandmother referred to you as the granddaughter she never had at our lunch the other day."

"She did?" Tristan nodded.

"They've already adopted you as one of the family."

"It's a nice family." Rory complimented them. Tristan rolled his eyes.

"Every family's a nice family when you can pick and choose who you talk to." He pointed out. "But seriously, they told me that they wanted us to get married before I even asked you out." He smiled. "Subtle isn't a quality that the DuGrays have had to master."

"You don't say?" Rory smiled as she took a sip of her wine, the memory of Tristan demanding that she go to PJ Harvey flashing briefly through her mind.

"Hey, I got better, didn't I?" She conceded with a shrug.

"You're welcome, by the way." She said, taking full credit for his transformation. He rolled his eyes again. He should have never told her about the influence that she had on him back in high school when they were in France.

"Just, don't let them make you feel like we have to rush through this relationship. It's ours, for better or for worse. We've got a good thing going, and fate has always played a large role in our relationship before so I'm trusting it to do the right thing now."

"And what would that be?" Rory asked, a playful look on her face. He took a deep breath, as if to ponder that question.

"I have no idea." He said in one quick exhalation. "But no matter what happens with us, I don't want you to stop hanging out with them. I love the fact that you've given them so much joy." Rory smiled.

"The feeling's mutual."

"Good." He smiled as Rory yawned.

"Wine was a bad idea." Rory said, pushing her empty glass away from her. "It always makes me sleepy."

"That and traveling halfway around the world and back in a week." Tristan said as he pushed back his chair and stood up.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"Come on, Sleeping Beauty. I'm tucking you in." He said as he offered her his hand.

"No, I need to get back on American time. If I go to bed at seven-thirty, that will never happen."

"We'll see about that." He said, pulling her up and out of her chair. She knew that there was no point in fighting him, even if she had the strength to do so, which at the moment, she did not. She walked to her room and pulled open her drawer, reaching in blindly for whatever pajamas happened to be on top. She mechanically undressed, changed her clothes and climbed into bed. He walked over and kissed her temple, before reaching to turn out the lamp.

"Wait." She said, putting her hand on his arm. "Will you stay with me? Until I fall asleep?" He smiled at her simple request and nodded. He kicked off his shoes and laid down on top of the comforter beside her, adjusting a pillow behind him for his neck. She handed him the remote and he turned on the TV, not at all surprised when she didn't scoot away from him, but rested her head on his shoulder instead of returning to her own pillow. He put an arm around her, holding her tight. She closed her eyes and he glanced down to make sure she was comfortable.

"I missed the way you smelled." She murmured into his shirt. "You always smell so good." He didn't answer her, just smirked at her tired ramblings. The next time that he glanced down at her, she was completely out. He was really wishing that he had a set of work clothes here so that he could stay tonight. The thought of leaving her alone after she asked him to stay nearly killed him. He decided that waiting awhile couldn't hurt, as he flipped through the channels, looking for anything that would catch his interest. He settled on SportsCenter and set the remote on the bedside table next to him. Suddenly he was struck with the oddest feeling of familiarity, that nagging feeling of Déjà vu. He closed his eyes, unsure of what he had been reminded of. When he opened them again, it was with a burst of sudden realization. Natalie.

OOOOO

"Tris, why do you always turn the channel to something like ESPN and then fall asleep with the remote in your hand?" Natalie asked, placing her perfectly manicured hand on his chest. He smiled.

"It's a control thing."

"God forbid you lose control of the remote." She teased. "You are a man."

"Did you think otherwise?" He asked, raising his eyebrow. She kissed his shoulder in response.

"We sound like an old marry couple."

"You think so?" He asked.

"I think that we would make a great married couple. You falling asleep every night with the remote in your hand. Me in my cold cream and rollers." She smiled. "It's like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting."

OOOOO

He had known that he would never marry her. They had been together eight months and it was not what he wanted. He thought about the girl in his arms now. He had never felt this way about anyone. Could he feel this way about anyone else? He didn't know. Their conversation that evening had his brain reeling. He was worried that she was thinking too much about this. Or maybe he wasn't thinking enough. At this point, he couldn't tell.

He decided to focus on what he did know. He knew that he was extremely protective of this woman, and the thought of anything happening to her terrified him. He would also go to great lengths to make sure that she was happy. Was he ready to marry her? No. Could he see himself marrying her in the future, maybe. But here he was getting sucked back into that gray area he was trying to avoid.

He glanced down at Rory and decided that now was the best time to leave. He slipped out from under her and paused to see if she would wake up. She shifted, but never woke up. He turned off the TV and picked up his shoes, silently making his way out of the room. He shut the door quietly behind him. He put his shoes on in the living room and picked up his jacket from the coat rack. As he opened the door, he couldn't help but chuckle. He had done this many times before, but never with a girl that he had wanted to see again. He was amazed that his muscle memory was still intact, that it came so easily to him, even after all these years. Then again, he had quite a bit of prior experience leaving an apartment undetected. Feeling twenty again, he closed the door silently behind him and made his way into the night.


	10. Chapter 10

As time passed, Tristan and Rory settled into a comfortable routine. The worries that Rory had about leaving were eased by Tristan's understanding, and even her mother was more comfortable with her job knowing that Tristan was just as worried. She hadn't had to leave in a month and she had practically made Tristan's apartment her own, knowing that their time together could be interrupted made them make the most out of the time that they did have. After his birthday incident, Tristan had made sure that Rory had been given a key, and now was allowed to come up without anyone's assistance. For this, she was grateful. Rob hadn't looked at her since, so she was pretty sure that he was grateful for their lack of interaction as well.

"Tristan?" She called out into his apartment.

"In my office." He yelled back. She set her laptop case down on his couch and figured that if he were working, she could get some stuff written up too. She turned her computer on and set it on the coffee table and went off in search of her boyfriend.

"Don't get up." She said. "I brought my work with me." She said as she greeted him with a kiss.

"Big story?" He asked, not hearing anything on the news recently. He had taken to watching CNN very carefully. If there were any chance she had to leave again, he would be ready this time.

"No, just a write-up for the Times." She said. "But it's due tomorrow and I've got a lot of finishing touches left." He nodded. "What about you?" She asked, looking over his shoulder at the blue prints that were in front of him.

"Not much left. I was trying to get it done before you got home." He said. Rory inwardly smiled. Home had a nice ring to it. "Well, don't worry. You can work on it as long as you need to."

"Hey, speaking of work?" Tristan said. "I've got this hospital gala fundraiser thing to go to and I need a date. Know anybody who would be interested?"

"For a hospital gala fundraiser thing? I might." She smiled.

"You're the wordsmith here." He said, unapologetic for not knowing the correct term. "But before you say yes, here's the back-story. Natalie's mother is on the fundraising board of the hospital, and since her father is one of our biggest clients, it's 'imperative that we support all of their endeavors'." He said, quoting his boss. "At any rate, I'm being forced to go, and I would completely understand if you do not want to be there, but on the off chance that you might." He stopped, waiting for her answer.

"Natalie's going to be there." Rory stated. Tristan nodded slowly. "When was the last time that you talked to her?"

"The day I broke up with her. Plus, all of the New York society that my boss and his friends entertain..." He sighed. "Normally, I would never ask a girl to go through all of this, but because I know that you've done this before, I'm really hoping that you'll say yes and make this evening almost bearable."

"So you're basically saying that you need me there."

"Pretty much." He said with a wince.

"Then I guess I'm going to have to buy a new dress. Any requests?" She smiled.

"I trust your judgment." He said, not wanting to ask any more of her than he already was.

"Okay." She said, the wheels in her head already turning with ideas. He kissed her gratefully.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this." He said.

"You're welcome." She said. "Now I'll let you get back to work."

OOOOO

Tristan toured the ballroom slowly, making sure to greet all of the people he was supposed to. Rory smiled and recalled her days with Logan. She hadn't missed the people, that much was certain, but there was something fun about getting dressed up and watching Tristan do his job. She never got to see the serious side of him and this was an up-close and personal opportunity. When they finally sat down, Tristan leaned in close to apologize for boring her.

"I'm so sorry that took so long." He said, rolling his eyes.

"Don't apologize, I enjoyed it." She said with a smile.

"Sadist." He said, the pained look in his face evident. She smiled proudly. They settled down to listen to each of the speeches being given and Rory spotted Natalie for the first time. She was gorgeous, as Rory had anticipated, but she seemed so… society. She could never imagine Tristan being happy with someone like her. Tristan saw Rory eyeing up his ex and he glanced over at her. Rory put her hand on his arm and leaned in.

"How long were you together again?" She whispered.

"A year." He muttered quietly, trying not to be rude.

"And what was worse? Guard duty in Afghanistan or a whole year with DAR Barbie?" She asked, honestly. He chuckled, but quickly stifled it as people around them began to give them dirty looks. The fact that he had a smile on his face was the only answer she needed to know. The last speech finally ended and Tristan started a conversation with another employee at the table, letting Rory spend some time analyzing the crowd.

"Hello Gorgeous, care for a dance?" At the forward question, Tristan immediately turned around to punch whoever was speaking to his girlfriend, but Rory had turned around first and cried out when she saw him. Standing up, she threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

"Jack! What are you doing here?!"

"Supporting the dying children is pretty high on the priority list, don't you think Gilmore?" She smiled.

"I meant in New York, and you know it." She said, pulling out a chair for him next to her.

"My mother is on the board and I haven't been back in a long time so she conveniently scheduled my visit during this black tie gala so she could show me off to all of her rich friends' daughters."

"Well, now that you know how it feels to be auctioned off, you won't be attending anymore Yale Male parties I hope."

"That was just the once and I had no idea it was a Yale Male party or I wouldn't have attended at all." He paused and looked at her. "Well, I might have." He flashed a grin. She blushed, and suddenly remembered that her boyfriend was sitting directly behind her.

"Tristan, this is Jack Grahams, we went to Yale together. He's a fellow international journalist. Jack, this is my boyfriend Tristan DuGray." She smiled, glad to introduce the two men.

"Nice to meet you." Jack said, holding out his hand.

"You too." Tristan smiled politely.

"You know Gilmore, I meant what I said about that dance." He hinted. "If it's okay with Tristan, of course." He said, looking at the boyfriend for permission.

"If it's okay with Rory, it's okay with me." Tristan said, letting him know that he wasn't territorial. Rory smiled and kissed his cheek.

"Be right back." She told him. Tristan watched as Jack took her hand and led her onto the floor. He obviously came from money because no one could move that gracefully who wasn't forced to learn how to dance.

"I'll give you this, you two do make a cute couple." A familiar voice said as she sat down in Rory's empty spot. Tristan didn't need to turn to see who it was.

"Natalie." He said, finally acknowledging her for the first time all night.

"How long have you two been together?" She asked, trying to be supportive of his decision. Tristan smiled to himself, unsure of how to answer the question.

"A couple months now, but we've known each other since we were kids."

"And it's going well?" He nodded. "Good." She paused to watch Jack laugh at something Rory had said. "Aren't you going to ask anything about me?" She asked.

"It's not really my right to ask any more questions, is it?" Tristan said. Natalie shrugged.

"We can still be friendly, can't we? I mean, we never really had any big fights, we always got along." She sighed as she looked at his unsure face. "I know that I'm your first ex-girlfriend, Tristan, but could you at least try?" Tristan stared at her as if she had just revealed something to him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry." He said, apologizing for his cold demeanor. "How are you?" She smiled.

"I'm happy." She said. "And it looks like you are too."

"I am."

"Will you promise me something?" She asked. Tristan gave her his full attention at the sound of her request. "Will you tell her right away, if you don't," she paused "if you change your mind?"

"Natalie…" She shook his guilt-laden voice away. She didn't want his pity.

"Will you?"

"I'm not going to change my mind." He said quietly, his eyes on the floor. "At least, I haven't for the last eight years." As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew that he had just insulted Natalie. He glanced up to see her reaction, wanting to take the words back. She didn't seem surprised as he was.

"I always knew it wasn't me, Tristan." She said. "I just, I figured that as long as you were willing to pretend, I would take what time I got with you." The song ended and she stood up. "Goodbye, Tristan." She said, kissing his cheek. It felt familiar, ghostly, almost. He watched her walk away, but turned when Rory came back giggling to the table. She reached into her purse and pulled out a pen and wrote her number on the back of his card and handed it back to him.

"Anytime, really." She said with a smile. Jack said something to him and Tristan just smiled, not really paying attention to what was going on around him. As he walked away, Rory sat down and put her hand on his.

"How was the dance?" He asked.

"Fun. How was the conversation?" She asked him in return.

"It was…necessary." He said as he picked a word.

"Do you want to get out of here?" She asked. He stopped and looked at her. It would be a sin to come with such a pretty date and not dance with her.

"How about a couple of dances first?" She smiled and nodded. He stood up and pulled her chair out for her. She took his hand and walked out onto the floor. As she wrapped her arms around his neck, she felt him instantly loosen up.

"Have I told you how much I love you for dealing with tonight as gracefully as you have?" Tristan asked.

"It's always nice to hear." She smiled. "It is going better than the last dance that we attended." She said with laughter in her voice. "You know, when you tried to kill my boyfriend?" He shook his head.

"I was so jealous." He said. "I made a fool out of myself."

"Yes, you did." She admitted. "But, I didn't help matters any." She took her part of the blame.

"And yet here we are." He said, unable to understand how they got where they were.

"Here we are." She repeated. "And to think, if I had just accepted those PJ Harvey tickets all those years ago, there's a chance that we could have been married by now." She teased. Tristan laughed.

"I can't think about that."

"About what?"

"About all that lost time." He said. "I start to hate myself for letting you get away once."

"Don't. Everything happens for a reason." She murmured in his ear.

"You think so?"

"I know so."

OOOOO

"Hey, a little help?" Tristan asked as he came through the door with a fistful of groceries in each hand. Rory waved, but didn't bother getting up to help. She was on the phone, he could handle it himself.

"I can't tonight. I've got dinner plans with Jack before he flies out again." She said. "What about tomorrow night?"

"Who is Jack?" Lorelei asked.

"I went to Yale with him. He works in DC, international journalist, was party to the Yale Male get-together that Grandma and Grandpa threw."

"Oh, right. The cute one from TV with the nice smile." Lorelei smiled. "Why are you going out with him, and how does Tristan feel about it?"

"Tristan doesn't mind. And Jack was at the same gala that Tristan and I went to, and he's leaving again soon so we're just having dinner to catch up and swap journalist stories."

"I marvel at your self-control. It must be such a pain to have such wonderfully gorgeous men in your life."

"There's only one, but yes, he does make my life quite difficult." She smiled at Tristan as he walked into the room. "I'll see you tomorrow night Mom, bye." She said as she hung up the phone.

"How do _I_ make _your_ life difficult?" He wanted to know, his tall frame towering over her chair.

"By being so ruggedly handsome that I can't concentrate on the work in front of me." She smirked and patted his cheek.

"Hmm, I was going to hold your ice cream hostage until you helped me with the groceries, but after that..." He said, with a smile as he bent down for a kiss.

"You better not! There's a very strong chance that whatever place that Jack is taking me to tonight is going to be a trendy vegetarian place. I'm going to need something to eat when I get back." Tristan smiled and shook his head.

"It's good to know that as long as I feed you junk, you will never stray."

"Never. But, just to make sure I get my ice cream, I'll help you anyway." She threw her work to the side and stood up to help him.

"How magnanimous of you." Tristan teased.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.

A/N: A Fresh Start is coming next, I promise. I just wanted to get a chapter posted today because it's my four year anniversary on , and this was almost completed so it was easier to finish. Happy Reading!

"Hey." Tristan said as Rory walked in and sat down next to him in bed that evening. "I thought I heard you come in. How did your dinner go?"

"Fine." She said, being uncharacteristically laconic.

"Were you right about the place?" He asked. "Small portions of the leafy persuasion?" She nodded.

"Okay, what happened?" He asked as he set his sketchpad on his bedside table, giving her his undivided attention.

"It was nothing, really." She said, but Tristan knew better.

"Nothing, when said like that, is never nothing. Come on Ror, you know you can't lie so you might as well tell me." She sighed.

"It really was nothing. Jack just wanted to know if I was interested in taking a job in D.C." She said, brushing it aside.

"A job?"

"At the Washington Post." She nodded. Tristan fell silent, unsure of how to react. He needed more information.

"Was it a good job offer?" He asked.

"It was domestic, so I wouldn't have to travel anymore. The pay would be steady, unlike what I'm doing now, not that that matters." She rolled her eyes. "I don't know. It probably would look good on a résumé, but it's in Washington, so there's nothing to think about." She tried stopping the conversation.

"But it would be a good thing for you?" She shrugged. "Ror, if someone is offering you a promotion, don't you think that you should at least consider it?"

"It sounds like a wonderful experience and I'm sure that I would learn a lot, but I don't want to move. Connecticut and New York, they're the only homes I've ever known. My family is here. I like being able to take the train home when I need to get away from the city. I love waking up in the morning to the sound of you getting ready for work." She smiled and touched his knee. "In the end, it's too far away from all of the things that I love."

"Just think about it for a second." He was playing the devil's advocate with her, and she knew it. "I know for a fact that your family would rather have you living in Washington than flying off to undisclosed locations every time the telephone rings, and if this is something that you think you should try, you know that everyone will support you."

"You think I should take it?" She asked, surprised that he would even suggest such a thing.

"I think that everyone would understand if you _wanted_ to take it. No one would stand in your way."

"Not even you?" She asked. He moved closer so that he was next to her and took her hands in his.

"Do you really think that I would stop you from doing something if you chose to do it?" He looked her in the eye.

"So you would choose to be noble, rather than to fight for me to stay." Rory wanted to know.

"It would be hard watching you go, I'm not going to lie. But if I thought that it was what you really wanted, what was best for you? Yeah, I would do anything for you."

"What if you were what was best for me?"

"You really aren't even going to consider the job?" He asked, ignoring her question.

"Would you leave?" She asked. "If someone offered you an extra, let's say, ten grand a year." She ball-parked. "Would you move away from your grandparents, from me?" He paused.

"I would at least consider it. Yeah." He said.

"But would you move?" She asked. He sighed as she looked at her face. Move away from her? It would have to be a very good deal.

"If the job were good enough, I might." He said honestly. "I believe that long distance relationships can work, if people really try. And we both have the means to travel back and forth and visit," he sorted out the details in his head, "it could work."

"I couldn't do it. There's no way." She said, sure of her choice. He was silent for a minute as if deciding how much longer he wanted to put up a fight about this. He didn't want her to go to Washington, so his willingness to argue wasn't a feeling he held on to for very long.

"Well, I guess it's your decision." He said, finally giving up.

"It is." She stood up. "Anyway, I'm going to go take a shower." She said, ending their conversation. He turned the TV on, needing an excuse to stare off into space and think. She went about getting ready for bed. However, when she finally did crawl back into bed, she picked up the conversation directly where they left off.

"Tristan?" She asked quietly for his attention. He glanced over at her. "Thanks for trying." She said. "It really means something to me that you could do that."

"Sure." He nodded, surprised by her quiet compliment.

"Good night." She smiled before rolling over and falling asleep.

OOOOO

"Good morning." Rory said as she walked into the kitchen the next morning.

"Morning." Tristan said. He watched as she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table with him. "Hey, I was thinking about it and I think you should move in." Tristan said as if he had suggested catching a movie that afternoon.

"You do?" She asked, completely caught off-guard by his suggestion.

"I mean, if you wanted to, of course. You already have a key. You don't spend that much time at your apartment anymore anyway." She had to admit that she had thought about it once or twice.

"We've been living out of each other's apartments for a couple of months now. What made you decide this now?" She asked. He shrugged.

"Seems like it's the right time." He said. "You don't have to make a decision right now, it's just something to think about."

"No, I want to!" She said quickly, before he changed his mind. He smiled at her reaction but before he could speak again her phone started ringing from the next room. "This conversation isn't over." She said as she got up and went in search of her phone. Tristan smiled victoriously once she left the room. She had said yes. However, his smile began to fade as her words made their way into the kitchen. He sighed. She was leaving again. He heard her walking back into the kitchen and he looked up from his bowl to see what he already knew.

"Where are you headed?" He asked.

"Home first, to get my bag, and then London." She said, knowing that this was bound to happen. He stood up and gave her a hug and a kiss.

"One piece, yeah?" He requested.

"One piece." She confirmed. "And when I get back, I'll be yours one hundred percent of the time." She smiled.

"Good. I love you." He said kissing her again.

"Love you too. I'll call you when I land." She said as she grabbed her jacket and was out the door.

OOOOO

As always when she was away, CNN was on his TV twenty four hours a day. He had gotten a call from Lorelei so he knew that she had landed safely and was staying at a hotel with all the other foreign reporters in town. This time, there were protests over London's discussions over limiting mosques from certain areas of the city. As Tristan making himself lunch, he half-listened to the background noise.

"We have some breaking news just in from London. The rioting there took a dangerous twist at a British hotel where a number of American journalists were staying." Tristan shot into the living room faster than he knew he could. "These images show the lobby's front windows broken with some smoke, but reporters who were staying there said that the damage came from rocks being thrown through the window, followed by a package which contained a small amount of explosives. The explosion was small and no one was seriously hurt. We will have more of this story, and more, after the break." As soon as the story ended, Tristan's phone rang. He picked it up quickly.

"Hello?" He said.

"Tristan?" It was Janlan.

"Yeah."

"I just saw the news. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He said, his hands shaking. "No one was hurt, and knowing Rory she probably wasn't even there at the time. She barely sleeps when she's working." His call waiting beeped. "Gramps, Lorelei is calling. I have to go."

"Okay, well keep us updated if you hear from her okay?"

"I will." He ended the call. "Hello."

"I just got a phone call saying that Rory's hotel was on the news. Did you see it?"

"Yeah."

"What happened?"

"Someone threw a small explosive through the front window of the hotel. No one was hurt and the blast was tiny, mostly just smoke. Everyone is fine." There was silence on the other end. "Lorelei?" He questioned if she were still on the line.

"CNN," was all that she said. Tristan turned to the television to see Jack and Rory being interviewed. He turned up the volume.

"Jack Grahams is a reporter for CNN and he is joined with Rory Gilmore, former editor of the Yale Daily News and current free-lance journalist. Thanks for being with us."

"Thank you." Jack said.

"So Jack, tell us what you saw."

"Well, as you said Rory and I worked together at the Yale Daily News in college and we were both staying here covering the protest stories. It was around six pm here in London and we met at the elevators, here at the hotel, and we decided that we should get dinner before we started writing our stories. We had just stepped off the elevators when we heard the glass shatter from the broken windows. I noticed that there was something in the middle of the floor and we both jumped back into the elevator. There was a small explosion, not unlike a set of firecrackers, but there was no shrapnel or anything in the air, just a lot of smoke, and then the door closed and we went up to our rooms to get our notebooks and then came back down to investigate."

"Stupid." Tristan heard Lorelei mutter, reminding him that he was still on the phone.

"And Rory, did you know what was going on while all of this was happening?"

"No, when the windows broke we knew that something wasn't right, but I assumed that it was protesters vandalizing property or rioting. Jack was the one who pulled me back into the elevator because he had gotten further off the elevator and saw the device before I did." Tristan was analyzing every single movement she was making. She looked perfectly at ease. This gave him some comfort.

"And what is going on now at the hotel?"

"Well, security has cleared the lobby and the police are investigating and we were told to stay upstairs and out of the way until this process has finished. They are expecting it to be cleared and cleaned by morning." Jack said.

"Well thank you so much, I'm glad that everyone is safe. Please keep us updated."

"Thank you." They both said.

"Well at least now we know that she's safe." Tristan said.

"Right. People are starting to show up here. I've got to let them know everything is okay. I'll talk to you soon?"

"Okay. Bye." He hung up and took a look around the room, trying to get his body to relax. His phone started ringing again and he figured it was someone else worried about Rory.

"Hello?"

"Tristan?"

"This is he."

"It's Jack Grahams. We met at the hospital gala?"

"Yeah, I just saw you on CNN. How is Rory?"

"Everything is fine, but she wants to talk to you and her cell isn't working. Here you go." He said as he handed the phone over to Rory.

"Tris?" She said. Her voice was shaky and he could practically see her lips quivering.

"I'm here. Everything's okay." He went instinctively into calming her down, his own needs getting kicked to the proverbial curb.

"Thanks Jack." She muttered, who must have been leaving the room.

"What's wrong, are you okay?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I guess the shock is just wearing off. I took my anxiety out on my phone when I couldn't get through to you." She chuckled at her own behavior.

"We'll get you another when you get home." Tristan said. "I'm just thankful that Jack is there with you."

"Me too. If I hadn't stopped to chat with him, who knows what would have happened." She started to choke up. "I'm done." She said. "As soon as I get the okay to leave, I'm coming home."

"Okay, I'll pick you up."

"No, I mean, I'm done." She said. "I can't do this anymore."

"Rory, you're scared. Don't make any decisions right now." He said. "You'll have time to think about it."

"No. I want to come home and I want to stay there. Forever. With you." She said, ending the discussion.

"Okay." He said, humoring her like a stubborn six year old who is convinced she is right.

"Jack just got back, he said that we have the okay to leave now. I haven't even unpacked yet, so I'll get on the first flight out."

"Promise me that before you leave London, you'll give me a call and let me know when your flight gets in. I want to be at the arrivals gate."

"I will." She said.

"Good. Get your butt back to the States so I can wrap my arms around you."

"I'm on my way." She said.


	12. Chapter 12

"DuGray!" She shouted to him from across the airport. Tristan turned and started walking towards her. She picked up her speed and launched herself into his arms, dropping her bag. She buried her face into the crook of his neck.

"It's okay." He told her with a chuckle. "You're home now." She felt his hand on the back of her head.

"I love you." She told him as he picked up her bag. He never let go of her as they walked to the car, his arm firmly around her shoulder.

"You must be exhausted." He said as he opened the door for her.

"Something like that." She said, climbing in. Even though he was driving, she refused to let go of his hand the entire way home, falling asleep as the lights of New York slipped past her window.

OOOOO

"You're really sure about this?" Lorelei asked, thankful for the decision, but questioning whether or not it was what Rory really wanted.

"Yeah, I am." Rory answered. "I've told all of my former employers that I'm off the market." She told her mother. "I think I'm going to try my hand at writing fiction. I've always thought a book would be a fun and challenging thing to do."

"You've read enough of them…" Lorelei said. Luke walked over and refilled Rory's coffee without being asked. Lorelei scoffed and pointed to her own cup.

"Luke!" Rory said, surprised by the action.

"Just this once, you won't have to fight."

"What about me?" Lorelei asked.

"You are going to kill yourself."

"But I'm the one who's getting you laid!" She exclaimed a little too loudly. Rory smiled as Luke walked away, completely embarrassed by his wife's actions. "So what does Tristan think of all of this?" She said, grabbing one of Rory's French fries and popping it in her mouth.

"He's supportive of whatever I choose to do. I think he worries that I'm making this decision because of him and not because I really want to stop. I was worried about his reaction. I don't want him to think I expect our relationship to progress just because I'm choosing to retire."

"Psh, you know that Tristan wants to marry you." Lorelei said, knowing the fact was true.

"But I don't want him to feel like he has to ask right away. I want to take our time. I want him to ask because he's ready."

"And when do you think that will be?" Lorelei asked.

"I don't know." Rory said, feeling self-conscious.

"By the end of the year?"

"You see him proposing in the next two months?!" Rory said.

"Would you say no?"

"I was with Logan for two years and it didn't work out. I've been with Tristan a little over four months."

"If he asked you, what would you say?"

"I don't know." She said honestly.

"You would say yes." Lorelei said, not believing her daughter for a second. "The minute that you left the country together, your fate was sealed."

"Why are we having this conversation?"

"Well, you're having dinner with his grandparents tonight aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"I'm just saying that it's going to happen eventually, so you might as well prepare yourself for the concept."

OOOOO

"Hey." Tristan said as he picked up Rory for their dinner in Hartford. "How was your lunch?" Rory rolled her eyes.

"That good?" He laughed at her face.

"My mom thinks that because I quit my job, the next logical step is to get married." She said, disdain for the concept evident in her voice. "She predicts we'll be engaged by the end of the year."

"What?" Tristan started laughing at the idea.

"I tried telling her that I don't even know how you feel about marriage. I've never asked you. I mean, you know that eventually I want to get married, but you've never really talked about your feelings on the matter."

"Someday, yes, I would like to get married." He smiled.

"But you don't see that happening in the next two months do you?" She asked.

"No." He laughed.

"Thank God."

"Ouch." He muttered.

"You know what I meant. I was with Logan for two years before we got engaged." She said. The smile on Tristan's face faltered a bit, but he put his attention back on the road in front of him, so Rory was none the wiser. "We've only been together for a few months! Getting engaged would be insane."

"I thought you wanted to get married someday?" Tristan said, trying to figure her opinions out.

"I do. Just not right away."

"So are you going to wait three years this time, see if it turns out better?" He half-joked. Rory could hear the edge in his voice, and he knew that his point was made.

"That's not fair."

"Well, I'm just trying to figure it out, I mean, you move in, you quit your job, you've been talking incessantly about moving forward with our relationship, and now you want to wait a few more years? Which is it?"

"Just because I don't want to get married tomorrow doesn't mean that I don't want to at all."

"That's what I want to know." Tristan defended himself. "I want to know where you see this relationship going. Can you see us married someday?"

"Maybe." She said.

"Maybe sometime in the next year? The next two years?"

"How can I know that?!" She said, raising her voice. "You want me to look into a future that doesn't exist yet and see what I would like to happen. Sometimes what you want doesn't happen, Tristan." She said.

"How do you know?"

"Because it didn't with Logan!" She yelled, her frustration breaking through the usual filter on her mouth. As soon as his name escaped her lips, Tristan turned pale, set his jaw, and never took his eyes off the road. Rory knew that she had crossed a line that she couldn't backpedal over, so she decided to look out her passenger window and remain silent for the rest of the trip.

OOOOO

"Hello you two." Janlan said as he opened the door. "How are you doing this evening?"

"Just fine." Tristan said, putting on his fake Hartford face. He had to get through this dinner in one piece, but he knew that if someone mentioned the word marriage tonight, all Hell would break loose.

"Hello, Rory. You look beautiful as always." Janlan said, a small but playful smirk planted on his face.

"Yes, what a beautiful dress." Claire complimented.

"Thank you." She said, smoothing out her dress. "I bought it for my birthday." She said with a smile.

"Oh, that reminds me. Rory, I've got an early birthday present for you." Claire said. "Follow me." She said as she started for her bedroom. Rory did as she was commanded. She watched as Claire took a velvet box off of her dresser and handed it to her. "This was my mother's and unfortunately, I didn't have a daughter or a granddaughter to pass it on to, but I wanted you to have it." Rory paused to touch the top of the box. "Go on, open it."

"Oh, Claire…" She gasped as she revealed the pearl necklace inside. "It's beautiful. But I couldn't accept this. It should stay in the family."

"Nonsense. It will." Claire smiled. "And even if it doesn't work out with Tristan, I would prefer that you take it." She said succinctly. "You are the closest thing to a granddaughter that we have." Rory touched her heart and smiled.

"You have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you." Rory said as she gave her a hug.

"Happy birthday dear." Claire said, patting her on the back. Rory let out a little sniff as her composure cracked a little bit. "Oh, honey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." She said, as her eyes filled with tears. "I'll be fine."

"This is not fine." Claire said as she sat Rory down on the bed and handed her a tissue.

"I quit my job, did Tristan tell you that?" Claire nodded. "I moved in with him, and I quit my job and now I'm wondering if it was too much, too soon. I want to live with him, I do. I love him and I'm so happy when I'm with him, but the only step left is marriage, and I've already been engaged once."

"Oh dear…" Claire said, remembering the rumors and the scandal of the time.

"And I can't get engaged again without being one hundred and ten percent sure that this is going to work because I can't get that hurt again. I can't. I won't survive it this time. I loved Logan, but I love Tristan more. And this family, you've been so good and kind, and every time something good happens, I can't help but think, don't get too attached, this could all end tomorrow."

"Rory dear, I love you like you were my own, but you have got to toughen up. Life is short, and the fact that you are scared isn't going to stop things from happening to you. In fact, it's the things that scare us the most that are usually the most worthwhile." Rory smiled and nodded. "Now I know Tristan, and he loves you more than anything. He's not going to give you up. But you've got to talk to him about this fear of yours. If he thinks that you don't want to get married, he's going to assume that it's because you don't want him. And yes, he is that egotistical." Claire smiled and Rory laughed. "Now, freshen up and we'll go back downstairs and have a good dinner, hmm?" Rory nodded.

"Thank you. For everything." Rory said.

"You're welcome."

OOOOO

Meanwhile, Janlan fixed his grandson a drink and sat down across from him in the living room.

"So, how are things at work?" He asked.

"Things are going well. I just finished the office building project that I was working on so I'm waiting for the next big project."

"And things with Rory?" Tristan nodded and took a sip of his drink to avoid having to say something right away. Janlan watched his grandson's face and smiled. "Uh-oh."

"What?"

"You were never a good liar, son. What happened?"

"Nothing, honestly. We're just at that point in our relationship where we are having a lot of big conversations."

"Such as?"

"Well, you know how Rory recently quit her job because she didn't want to travel anymore?" Janlan nodded. "She said she wanted to be here with her family and I guess I can include myself in that category. Anyway, in the past she has said that her job was one of the major barriers preventing her from settling down and that when she thought she was ready to do so, she would quit her job."

"And now she has." Janlan said.

"Right. And to me, and every other rational person, it implied that things were sort of getting serious between us. I mean, she moved in and things have never been better." He paused. "And the next natural step in our relationship is marriage, which we both agree will probably occur."

"So what's the problem?"

"The timeline." Tristan said bluntly. "She was engaged once before and it fell through and now she panics whenever someone even mentions the idea of an engagement. She wants to get married, but she dreads being engaged." Tristan shook his head. "Frankly, I don't understand it or her at this point." He added. Janlan chuckled at their youth.

"Do you want to marry her soon?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"Not soon, but I could see us being engaged within the next year, yeah." He said. "She's saying that she can't imagine being engaged at all." He said, taking a sip of his drink.

"Well, it won't be the last time you're confused by a woman. I can assure you of that." Janlan smiled quietly as the girls came back into the room. Tristan looked up and saw that Rory's eyes were glassy and red, as if she had just been crying a moment before walking into the room.

"I'm sorry, we kept you waiting." Claire realized. "Let's move into the dining room, shall we?" Janlan, the quintessential gentleman that he was, pretended not to notice the difference and walked ahead of the young couple to the dining room.

"Are you okay?" Tristan looked concerned as he picked his drink up and stood up next to Rory.

"Yeah." She said. "I'll be fine." She said with a smile as she squeezed his hand.

OOOOO

Rory touched the lid of the velvet box as she set it down on the dresser.

"Have you tried it on yet?" Tristan asked as he watched her.

"I can't. It's an heirloom. It's just supposed to sit in the box and look pretty."

"Bullshit. Bring it here." Tristan said, reaching for the box.

"Tris," She said. "I am in my pajamas, about to go to bed." She said, pointing to her tank top and pajama bottoms.

"So?" He said, grabbing the box out of her hand.

"Be careful please?" Rory requested.

"Sorry." He placated her as he opened it up and took it out carefully. "Hair, please?" She moved it out of his way and he placed the necklace around her throat. "There." Tristan said as he finished clasping the necklace. He took a step back and she let her hair fall back into place. "It looks great on you."

"I still can't believe your grandmother gave it to me." She said as she touched the pearl reverently.

"She wanted to give it to you earlier, but I told her to wait until your birthday so you would be forced to take it."

"I almost didn't take it now." She said. "I told her she should give it to someone in her family."

"And what did she say to that?" Tristan asked, knowing it would be a good response.

"She told me that even if things didn't work out with us, she would want me to have it anyway. And then she said some lovely things that made me cry."

"I told you that they adore you."

"I know." She said, getting quiet.

"Ror, talk to me. What is going on?" Tristan asked. When she didn't turn around to face him, he stood up and walked up behind her. "Please?" She closed her eyes at the feeling of his hand on her elbow, sliding down her arm and back, caressing her skin, calming her nerves.

"I'm scared." She said.

"Of what?" Tristan asked softly, trying to be supportive. She looked hesitant. "You can tell me." He said.

"I'm scared of this." She touched the necklace around her neck. Tristan's heart dropped into his stomach. "I'm terrified that all of this is too good to be true. I'm scared because I love you so much and I could easily throw my life and all my plans away just to be with you. I'm not supposed to be that girl! And my job was the thing that kept me alive when Logan and I split. I buried myself in work. What if you and I were to break up? I wouldn't have you and I wouldn't have my job." Tristan didn't say anything.

"Do you honestly think that what happened to you and Logan will happen to us?" He finally asked, wanting to know.

"You don't have any doubts?" Rory asked, knowing that couldn't possibly be true. "You've never been scared about us?"

"I never said that."

"Tell me." She requested. "Please?" He was reluctant to admit his own doubts because for him, they weren't deal-breakers, but the look on her face made him cave.

"I'm terrified that you left your job, not because you wanted to, but because I'm your relationship do-over for Logan." He said quickly before he lost his courage. Rory closed her eyes.

"You could never…" She muttered.

"But do you know what is more powerful than that fear?" He asked. "It's you. I spend twenty seconds with you and all of those fears fade away. One touch, one glance from you and I don't have to worry anymore. My mind goes blissfully blank." He sighed. "I just want you to be happy. If you're not," he shook his head, unable to finish his sentence, "well, that is not okay with me."

"I really am happy. I just…" she paused to gather her thoughts, wanting to carefully choose her words. "In the past, the way I felt, as strong as those feelings were, they weren't enough to make it work." She said simply.

"What more is there?" He asked, wanting to know. She shrugged, not sure of what to tell him. He sighed. "Look, I'm here with you for as long as you'll have me. Hell, I couldn't leave you even if I wanted to." He admitted. "But you've got to let me know where I stand." She nodded and reached out for his hand. "If you feel like this relationship isn't going to last…"

"No." She said, cutting him off and reaching out a hand to bring him closer. "I know that I want to be with you. I know that you make me happier than I've ever been before, and all of my doubts are only because I care so deeply for you that I can't imagine it could actually be real."

"That I do understand." Tristan said.

"As for the talk about the future," she paused, "I want to be as sure as you." She said as she squeezed his hand. "I just need more time." She said, consciously working whatever she had to charm him over. She had to make him remember that she did love him. "Can you wait for me?" She asked. Tristan looked into her face and his heart melted. How could he say no to her? He nodded slowly.

"I can wait." Tristan reassured her. "I just don't want to." He said honestly, his lips twitching into the briefest of smirks.

"I love you." She told him as she threw her arms around his neck. "I'm sorry I'm so screwed up." She mumbled into his shoulder. "I don't deserve you." She said as she shook her head. She knew how selfish she was being towards him.

"Nonsense." He told her. "And you're not screwed up. Much." He added with a chuckle.

"Thank you for understanding."

"You're welcome." He kissed her slowly. When he pulled away from her, she was smiling. "What?" He asked.

"Blissfully blank." She pondered his earlier statement. "That's pretty accurate." His smile made her heart flutter in her chest. He kissed her again, this time a little more eagerly. Tristan could feel her body release the tension she had been holding in for the last week as she melted against his body.

"Feel better?" He asked as he held her face in his right hand.

"Almost." She smiled, extracting herself from his grasp. Tristan's confused frown didn't last long. It was replaced with his trademark smirk when the tank top that Rory had been wearing hit him in the chest. It was the only encouragement he needed.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: I suck at updating. Summer is officially here, and that may or may not lead to quicker updates. To make up for my serious dismissal of this story, I've added some extra stuff to the chapter. Next chapter: Happiness and fluff. I promise!

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing

"Mr. DuGray, you have a phone call." His secretary pointed to his phone which, sure enough, had a light flashing on line two.

"Tristan DuGray." He said as he pushed the speaker phone button and continued working.

"Tristan, it's your grandmother." Claire said. "I have a favor to ask of you." Tristan instantly set down his work and gave the phone call his full attention. His grandparents had never asked for anything, despite the fact that Tristan would do anything for them.

"Anything." He said, shocked by her request.

"Will you come up here this weekend and have lunch with me, just you and me, one on one?"

"Why, is something wrong?" Tristan asked, getting worried by this strange behavior.

"No dear, I've just been talking to your grandfather and I feel like there is some things that we need to discuss."

"You're freaking me out a little, Grandma." Tristan said.

"I promise that it's nothing to be worried about, just me being my typical meddling self." Tristan smiled.

"What time do you want me to be there?" He asked as he started reaching for his planner.

OOOOO

Tristan had, admittedly, sped all the way to Hartford from the city. His stomach was in knots and he had no idea why the concept of this dinner was freaking him out so much. It was just lunch with his Grandma, Lord knows they had done it a thousand times before. But this level of secrecy was new, as was the request to meet alone. He pulled into the driveway and got out of his car, not bothering to knock on the door.

"Grandma?" He yelled into the foyer.

"What did I tell you about yelling when you enter the house?" Claire said as she appeared to greet her grandson. "Hello." She said as she gave him a hug. "How was your drive?"

"Quick." Tristan said honestly as he followed her into the dining room.

"We're having grilled fish for lunch, is that suitable?" Claire asked as Tristan pulled out a chair for her. She sat down.

"Of course." Tristan said as he sat down across from her.

"Alright, so I suppose you are wondering why you are here?" Claire said with a small smile.

"Yes. Not that seeing you isn't great, but I get the feeling that there is more at play here than a simple lunch." Tristan said, eyeing his grandmother for clues.

"I wanted to talk to you about Rory." Tristan's stomach lurched against ribcage.

"What about her?" He said, looking concerned.

"She told me about what had happened the day I gave her my necklace." Tristan nodded. "Did you two talk about it?"

"We agreed to wait to discuss it further until she felt more comfortable with the situation." Tristan said, as their food was placed in front of each of them. He realized that he was talking about the situation in as neutral and vague terms as he could muster. It was easier that way.

"What do you know about Logan?" Claire asked. "You were still in school when they were together, so you weren't here for the fallout of the relationship."

"Um," He faltered a bit. The truth was, he didn't know that much. They hadn't discussed him since their brief encounter in London. "I saw him when we went to London together. We met on the sidewalk. She told me about their relationship and how they had been engaged and they had mutually decided to go their separate ways." Actually, it had been Logan who had first told him about the engagement. Rory had removed all the details from their story entirely.

"It was quite the scandal. You can imagine what the gossip mill was like around here, but I'll fill you in. Back when Lorelei became pregnant, it was the biggest scandal this town had ever seen. Everyone knew exactly how much potential that girl had and Richard and Emily were, up until that point, the greatest couple Hartford had. Everyone considered them to be shining examples of morality. The shame from that incident alone was enough to permanently scar their reputation in this town. Soon, Mitchum Huntzberger had made a name for himself and he was the new up and coming person in society. Logan was known as being a typical society child, so you can imagine what it was like to hear that Rory, who was going to redeem the Gilmores' reputation, and Logan, who had nearly destroyed Mitchum's, were together at Yale. However, this seemed to work for the couple until Rory dropped out of Yale…" Tristan choked on his drink.

"I'm sorry, did you just say when Rory dropped out of Yale?" Claire stared at Tristan, surprised by his surprise.

"She didn't tell you?" Claire clarified.

"No, this is the first I'm hearing about it. Why and when did she drop out of Yale?" Tristan said, shock reverberating throughout his entire body.

"Mitchum told her, in an overt attempt to make her a more suitable wife for Logan, that she didn't have what it took to be in journalism and basically fired her from her internship as his aide. And in response, she decided that she was going to take some time off from Yale to decide what it was she wanted to do with her life." Claire could see her grandson's hands turning white as he gripped his silverware so she continued. "She only missed a semester, but it nearly destroyed her relationship with her mother, who knew exactly what was going on. Richard and Emily took Rory in for that semester and she became everything that the Huntzbergers had hoped she would be. She even joined the DAR." Claire chuckled. Tristan didn't find it as amusing. "And, in the process, she realized that she had made a horrible mistake. It was good for her to learn what she was getting into, in a strange way, it might have been better to find out earlier than later. But once again, here was a Gilmore girl who was destined for greatness, being led astray by a trouble-making boy." Claire sighed. "And when they broke off their engagement, well, it was the talk of the town." Tristan couldn't believe it. Rory? His strong, beautiful, independent Mary, had dropped out of Yale to pretend to be a Hartford housewife? It went against everything he knew about her. Why hadn't she told him this in London? Or since, for that matter?

"This is more than just her having cold feet about commitment." He said allowed, finally understanding why she was so scared to give up part of her life for someone else.

"When Janlan told me your side of the story, I knew that something was not right. You would never be angry at her for her hesitancy if you knew the whole story. The girl is tired of being considered a scandal, and no one can blame her for that. Especially not you." Claire said, reminding him of his high school years.

"I can't believe she didn't tell me any of this." Tristan said aloud. "We talked about it, we fought about it, we made up, and she never said a word." But as he thought back, he remembered her words. _I'm scared because I love you so much and I could easily throw my life and all my plans away just to be with you. _He thought about what she had told him about Logan while they were sitting in that café in London._ "And that's just the Reader's Digest version_." She had smiled. She had edited the story in her own perfectly written, natural way and he had left it at that without so much as another thought. Suddenly, it all made sense, the guilt over her job, the need for her to choose him over work, her fear about losing her path in life, her comment at the café. It was like the missing puzzle piece the described every piece of her behavior over the last week.

"Oh my God." Tristan said, standing up from the table. "Grandma, I have to go." And without another word, he was gone.

OOOOO

"Rory?" Tristan yelled as he stormed into their apartment. He saw her small frame jump up from the other side of the couch. She had been laying with her laptop on her stomach and now the device had been tossed to the end of the couch.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Rory asked as she removed the headphones from her ears.

"I just had lunch with my grandma in Hartford." He told her as he took off his coat and threw it on the nearest chair. "She told me what happened with you at school." Rory looked at him, confused for a brief second before the shame hit her features. "Why didn't you tell me you dropped out of Yale?" She stood up, not wanting to talk about the topic. "If I had known the whole story, I would have never…"

"What?" Rory asked. "You would have never what?"

"I wouldn't have gotten upset. I would have understood where you were coming from." Tristan said. "I would currently feel terrible for the way I reacted the other day." Rory scrunched her face up at him and turned away. "Instead, I'm trying really hard not to be completely pissed off at you for keeping this from me." He said. "For making me feel like this was somehow my fault for loving you too much. I've been nothing but one hundred percent honest with you. You had no reason to lie to me!"

"You're right. I shouldn't have lied to you." She said as she stood up. "I'll get my stuff." Tristan was dumbfounded.

"Wait, what? Why?"

"Aren't you breaking up with me?"

"Why would I do that?" He asked her. She didn't look at him. He walked over and put his hands on her shoulders. "Rory, look at me. Why would you think that?"

"Men always suck you into their world, get you to do whatever they want, and then when they are finished with you…" She slapped her hands together. "Out the door. And since we're standing in your apartment, you can't leave, so I'm forced to do it for you." Tristan just continued staring at her like she was completely cracked. "God, I know how irrational it sounds, but..." She said, unable to finish her thought.

"Why would you think that I'm going to leave?" Tristan asked, once he finally found the frame of mind to put a sentence together. "Two days ago we were fighting because I wanted to marry you."

"You say that now, Tristan. They all said that now. Don't you understand that? No one actually means it and it's only a matter of time before you realize it too."

"Who is 'they'?" Tristan asked quietly.

"Do you want a chronological list or alphabetical?" She asked him. "Jess left without even saying goodbye. Dean had the courtesy to stick around long enough to take my virginity before leaving. Logan went off to London. And you," she pointed an accusatory finger at her boyfriend, "you went to military school!" She said. "So yes, maybe I'm crazy, but I've heard every single thing that you've told me before, and no one actually meant it or if they did, they didn't stand beside it."

"Do you think that I've had great and honest people in my life? Of course not. But you don't use them as an excuse for your own fear. That's bullshit." Rory was shocked out how quickly he reacted to her statement. "If you're scared, you deal with it and move on. You're surrounded by great men in your life: Luke, your grandfather, my grandfather for that matter!" He stood directly in front of her. "And you've got me." He said, more confidently than he probably should have. "You may have heard it before, but I'm not going anywhere. Ever. I told you, if this relationship ends, it's going to be because you wanted it to." He said as he pointed his finger in return at her and looked her square in the eye. "Now," he said more calmly, "While I'm grateful to finally understand where you are coming from, I'm still mad at you for hiding all of this from me and I need some time to think." He turned around and left Rory standing there, all by herself. "And you better be here when I get back." He said before slamming the door.

OOOOO

Tristan came into their bedroom that night after spending the entire afternoon at his office. Rory was already lying in bed, reading a book, and she knew that he had waited to appear until she was supposed to be asleep. She never took her eyes off the book in front of her, but her attention was completely on him. He got undressed and slipped into bed next to her without saying a word. She glanced once at his back, which was turned rather coldly to her, before starting her apology.

"I'm sorry." She said reluctantly, still refusing to look up from her book. "You were right. I should have told you about Yale." She turned the page of her book and kept pretending to read. "I didn't want to tell you in London because it was so soon. I thought that when we got more serious, I would tell you." She paused to turn a page again. "And then I saw Natalie." She looked over at Tristan's back again and noticed that this time, his shoulders were tense. "I knew from the moment I saw you look at her that you could never love her, if only because she represented everything that you were running away from. I saw so much of the old me in her. I was afraid that if you saw that other side of me, the Hartford side, that you might not like what you saw." Rory admitted. "And now that you know everything, you won't look at me at all, so maybe I should have been less concerned with the bad looks and just been grateful I had your attention in the first place." She tried to tease, but the hurt in her voice was apparent. "I just, I want you to know that I love you." Tristan had to fight the urge to roll over and comfort her, to tell her that he was sorry too and that she was forgiven. Instead, he remained stubborn and spoke without turning over to look at her.

"Just get some sleep. We'll talk about it later." It wasn't forgiveness and it wasn't a cold shoulder. It was a dismissal of the topic. She would take what she could get.

OOOOO

When Tristan woke up the next morning, he realized that his arm had betrayed him in the middle of the night and flung itself over Rory's waist, pulling her close. He was thankful that he was always the first one to wake up as he brought himself back over to his side of the bed. He stared at the ceiling for a second before planning his next move. Rory's apology the night before had been a good one, and he knew that she meant it, but he wasn't ready to say his piece yet. He wasn't a writer. He needed time to think about how he felt, and he certainly needed time to plan what he was going to say. He had tried to write some of it down yesterday at his office, scribbling notes, desperate to organize his racing mind. The fact that she had expected him to throw her out onto the street had completely thrown him. How could she think that he would break up with her like that? He felt her stir and he glanced over to see if she was awake. She was.

"Good morning." He said, analyzing her sleepy features. She nodded and glanced at the clock. She swung her legs over her side of the bed and stretched. She usually needed a cup of coffee, a shower and another cup of coffee to fully wake up in the morning, but today it was worse. She hadn't slept at all the night before until Tristan had put his arm around her, probably a subconscious attempt on his part to get her to stop restlessly turning.

"Do you want some coffee?" She asked him.

"Sure." He said. She went to the kitchen and poured them each a cup. She took a deep breath before turning around to bring it back to the bedroom. She was surprised to find that Tristan had followed her and was standing directly behind her.

"Can we talk?" Tristan asked as she handed him his cup.

"Of course." She said, sitting down at the table.

"Okay." He said, wondering where to start. "When my grandmother told me that you had dropped out of Yale, I was shocked. I thought that I knew everything about you, but on the drive back, I realized that I'm the only person that missed the last, and apparently most important, years of your life. So if there's something you haven't told me, everyone else will know. I hate that thought. I don't want to be the only one who doesn't know what happened in my own girlfriend's life. Especially because, after learning that one missing piece of information, all of your behavior finally made sense. I got to see your soul, completely, for the first time. I don't know why you wouldn't trust me with all of the information. Did I do anything to make you doubt me or the way that I feel about you?" He asked.

"No." She said sadly. He stared at his mug for a second.

"I'm an all or nothing kind of guy. It's just the way I've always been, so for you to leave out parts of your story, it makes me feel like we're not on the same page. And I know why you are so freaked out about marriage and leaving your job, it makes sense after all you've been through. I don't need a marriage license or a ring, those things aren't important. But I do need to know that you are in this thing with me one hundred percent, good and bad. I can't accept anything less than that. I thought that I could, but after what I learned…"

"Yes." She cut him off. His eyes shot up to meet hers, surprised by her instant reaction. "I'm in." He stared at her, wanting her to be sure.

"Are you saying that because it's what I want to hear?" He asked. Rory shook her head and reached for his hand.

"Last night, I had a dream about your house." She said. Tristan's eyes explored her own as he stared at her. "It was beautiful, just like the pictures. We were standing in the kitchen. We were happy even though we were just going through the motions of our life." She paused. "I knew that you had changed the moment you showed me the drawings of that house. You were open, candid, and honest. I'm so sorry that I wasn't the same. There is no excuse." She sighed. "But I have always loved you with all that I have. And now I know that I want to keep doing it for the rest of my life. If you'll let me." She added.

"You dreamt about my house?" Tristan asked. She nodded. "So did I." He said.

"No way." She said, not believing him. He nodded, his freaked out expression turning into a small smile.

"We had a golden retriever." Rory took a second to adjust to this thought.

"We did?" Tristan nodded. "I've always wanted a dog. What was his name?" He chuckled.

"I don't remember."

"We should get one!"

"They aren't allowed in the building." He smiled.

"Aw, that's too bad. We'll just have to wait until the house is done." She said. Tristan stared at her, surprised by her comment.

"I guess so." He said with a smile. His hand interlocked with hers across the table.

"Come here and kiss me." Rory commanded as she leaned across the table.

"Yes ma'am." Tristan smirked as he followed her lead and leaned forward to kiss her. When he finally pulled away, she fell back into her seat and smiled.

"Truce?" She offered.

"Truce." He agreed.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing

Rory snuck up behind Tristan and slid her hands down the front of his chest.

"Yes?" He asked, knowing that she was trying to get his attention for a reason.

"I'm bored." She said with a pout. Her voice was too close to his ear for him to concentrate. He set down the sketchpad in front of him and smiled without turning around. She nibbled on the soft flesh before moving lower to his jaw.

"After all we've been through, I can live with bored." He said honestly, tilting his head to give her more access.

"We should go somewhere." She said. "We could both use a vacation. Now that I don't have to work, we can just go for fun and relax." She said. Tristan's brain put two and two together. She had been home for almost two months without leaving the country. She had a restless itch that needed to be scratched.

"Where do you want to go?" He asked. She stopped her offensive on him and paused to think about it.

"I don't know, anywhere. Where do you want to go?" He thought about it for a second.

"I could stand to make a trip back to North Carolina." He said. "It's been almost a year since I last visited." Rory smiled.

"North Carolina?" He was nervous about what her reaction was going to be to the statement. The truth was, he had wanted to bring her down there before, but he never knew how to approach the subject without completely freaking her out. "I'd get to see your other life." She realized, clearly pleased with this idea.

"Sure. I could introduce you to my friends, take you to the beach…" He suggested, getting lost in the idea of Rory in a bikini on a beach. She finally came around to stand in front of him, wanting to see his face.

"I would love that." She said honestly.

"Really?"

"Yeah. When do you want to leave?" She asked and he could see the mental list being created in her head.

"I don't know. Let me talk to work tomorrow and I'll find out."

"Okay then." She smiled, feeling victorious.

OOOOO

Tristan walked through the door the next evening with two tickets in his hand. He set them down on the kitchen table in front of Rory and walked over to the refrigerator as if he had just handed her a stack of mail. He reached in to grab a water when she finally let out a squeal.

"These are for tomorrow!" She cried, nearly jumping out of her chair. Tristan nodded. "Wait, how long are we staying?" She asked, not seeing a return date.

"I got the whole week off." He said as he walked over to her and set his water down on the table.

"Really?" She couldn't believe it. "Yay!" She smiled, launching herself into his arms and hugging him fiercely. "Ooh, I've got to pack." She said as she ran to the bedroom. Tristan smiled as he watched the mental list in her head began to grow a little longer.

OOOOO

When the plane touched down, Rory was practically giddy with excitement. She had always wondered about Tristan's mystery life in North Carolina. When he had left, he had been such a boy. This was the place that had made him a man. Tristan glanced over at his girlfriend and smiled. He was excited to show her all of his old hang outs and tell her the stories that he had never told anyone from his old life, except his grandparents.

"It's hard to believe I haven't been here since I was a senior in college." Rory said as she looked out of the rental car's windows. "It feels like just yesterday."

"You've been here before?" Tristan said, shocked that A) she had been to North Carolina at all, and B) that she had been there at the same time that he had been there.

"My mother's old boss lives here now. She got married here in… April of 2007?" Rory shook her head, surprised by the amount of time that had gone by. "Anyway, she was more of a mother and grandmother to us since we didn't speak to the Gilmores at the time."

"I could have seen you. We could have bumped into each other on the street." Rory got quiet as she remembered the event.

"I thought of you, while I was here." She confessed.

"You did?" He said, even more shocked by that detail.

"I was sitting in the back of our car, staring out the window, and I remember thinking about you and wondering what had happened with you. Where you were and what you were doing with your life."

"Was me serving overseas part of your daydream?" He smirked, proud at the thought that she would think of him after so much time had passed since last seeing him. He couldn't really say the same about her.

"No. I would have never thought that in a million years." She got quiet as she reached out and held his hand. "I did think about what might have happened if you had stayed at Chilton."

"And what was your conclusion?" He asked in all seriousness.

"That you probably would have driven me crazy, but that I very possibly could have seen myself dating you. It was right after you left that I started my bad boy phase…you could have been that guy for me." She teased.

"Don't tell me that." He groaned.

"Sorry." Rory smiled guiltily. "Anyway, now that I'm here with you, I want to know all about your life while you were here. I want to be filled in on all the missing pieces." She said. "Are you ready to be my tour guide?" She asked him. He rolled his eyes, not sure if he was up to the task. She was going to be merciless on the questions and facts of every single spot that they stopped at.

"Is anyone?" He smirked. She slapped him playfully in the chest.

OOOOO

As soon as they dropped off their luggage at the hotel, they were back in the car heading to a diner across town. Now it was Tristan's turn to be excited. While he outwardly wasn't showing his anxiousness, Rory noted that his leg hadn't stopped bouncing since they had gotten in the car.

"This place was like a second home to me." Tristan told her as they pulled up to the place. "One of my best friends from school, Jimmy, his family owns it." He smiled. Rory had heard about Jimmy once or twice in passing, but she was excited to hear more about him, maybe even meet him. "It's Saturday, so I know that they are all going to be here. They always have to help out when it's busy." He opened the door for her and gave the place a once-over. It looked exactly the same. Rory picked out a table and they both slid into the booth. A pretty little waitress stopped by their table and Tristan had to do a double take.

"Hey y'all. My name is Sara, and I'll be your waitress today. Can I get you somethin' to drink?" She asked with a smile.

"I'll have a coffee." Rory requested.

"I'll have the usual." Tristan said, a smirk planted firmly on his face as he waited for her to look up from her order pad. As she did, she stared at him for a second before recognizing him.

"Oh my Lord! Look at you! You have hair!" She cried as Tristan stood up to give her a hug.

"How you doin', cutie?" He asked as he squeezed her tight. Rory was surprised to hear Tristan's own hidden accent start to show through.

"I'm great. I'm starting college this fall." She said proudly.

"UNC?" Tristan asked.

"As if I'd have a choice?" She smiled. "Jimmy's cookin' in the back, let me go get him." But before she could turn around, Mama recognized him.

"Tristan DuGray, you get your lanky ass over here right now!" Tristan turned around to see Mama, who hadn't changed a day since he had been gone.

"Mama." He smiled as he gave her a big hug as well.

"Would you look at that?" She said, eyeing him up and down. "You've done gone and grown up on me."

"You say that every time I see you."

"Well, it's truer every time I see you!"

"Tristan!" Jimmy yelled as he threw off his apron and came around the counter.

"Jimmy!" Tristan smiled as he gave his old friend a hug. "How are you, man?"

"I'm great. What are you doing here? Why didn't you call?"

"I figured a surprise would be more fun. Plus, we just flew in this morning." Jimmy got a confused look on his face.

"We?"

"Yes, we." He waved Rory over, who had been watching this whole scene unfold with great interest. "Everyone, this is my girlfriend Rory Gilmore. Rory, this is Jimmy, Sara, and Mama." He said.

"Hi." Rory said with a friendly smile on her face. The three of them all shook her hand.

"Mama, I've been craving those eggs of yours since I last left." Tristan said. "Any chance I can get a plateful?"

"For you, baby, anything." She said, waving him off. "And it's on the house today. We've got some celebrating to do. What are you doing tonight? Do you have any plans?" She asked Rory, who shook her head. "Great, you're coming over for a good ol' fashioned barbeque. I'm going to put some meat on your bones." She said, pinching Tristan's arm. "But first, eggs…Jimmy, move over. I'm cooking for my boy." She said, grabbing the apron from him and putting it on. Tristan smiled and led Rory back to their booth.

"They love you." Rory smiled.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Tristan said.

"No, I mean it. They really love you. You're part of the family." This made her happy. She knew what Tristan was missing in the family department. If he couldn't get any affection from his own parents, it made her glad that he could get it somewhere else.

"Like I said, they took me in. I was staying for school, completely on my own. I hadn't spoken to my parents in a year, and then I met Jimmy." He said. "And the rest was history. The first time I met Sara she was 12." He shook his head. "I used to tease her about taking her out when she was old enough. Now she is the same age I was when I met her."

"Here you go, sugar." Mama said, putting the plates down in front of them. "Rory, I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I made you up a plate of everything." There was enough food in front of them to intimidate even a Gilmore Girl.

"Thank you." She said.

"And for you, scrambled eggs." Mama said, placing a heaping and scrambled plate full of breakfast potatoes, eggs, cheese, bacon and more in front of him.

"Thanks Mama." Tristan said, diving right in. With one bite, Tristan closed his eyes. "We're moving here." Tristan told Rory.

"To North Carolina?" She asked.

"No…" He said with a full mouth. She waited for him to swallow before speaking again. "I mean, here." He pointed to the table. "I don't know how I ever left this." He said, shoving more food into his mouth. She wanted to come see how Tristan had grown up and in return, she was seeing him regress right before her very eyes. She smiled at his childish behavior, but kept eating her food. As soon as they were done, Jimmy walked over.

"So DuGray, how long are you going to be around?" He asked as he pulled up a chair.

"Well, I figured we would have to spend a couple days at the beach, but we have no definite plans."

"God, I haven't been out there since Daddy died." Tristan sighed. "You'll have fun. It's great." He told Rory. "So Mama tells me that she roped you into coming over for dinner tonight?"

"The term 'roped' implies that it took some effort." Rory smiled. Jimmy nodded.

"Well, if you two want to spend some time alone, you don't have to worry about her. She'll understand."

"Absolutely not. We live together, frankly, we're getting a little sick of each other." Rory teased. Jimmy glanced at Tristan, shocked by this piece of information. "I'm going to hit the bathroom before we leave." She told Tristan as she slipped out of her seat. As soon as she was gone, Jimmy slid into her seat.

"You live together?" He said, unable to believe what he had just heard.

"Yeah." Tristan said, shifting in his seat, unconsciously preparing to take some heat.

"Wow. The last time we talked you had just broken up with what's her name."

"Natalie." Tristan confirmed. "Yeah, that was a while ago. Speaking of which, how is everyone doing? I haven't been back since the funeral, and I feel terrible about that." Jimmy shrugged.

"We're all getting by." Jimmy saw Rory coming back so he stood back up. "I'm glad to see you here now though. I'll see you tonight." He said as he patted Tristan on the shoulder.

"Later." He said.

"You ready to go?" Rory asked. He nodded, leaving a twenty on the table. "I thought it was on the house?" Rory smiled.

"It was supposed to be, that's why we are going to run out of here before they find out about it." He smirked as he pushed her out of the door as fast as he could.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I don't own jack.

Tristan glanced over at Sara. She had perched herself on her boyfriend's lap and was smiling at some joke he was telling to Rory.

"When did that happen?" He asked Jimmy.

"About a month after the funeral. Apparently, she needed someone to talk to and he volunteered." He rolled his eyes. "Can't say that I like it, but he seems okay."

"It's weird, isn't it? Seeing her all grown up."

"She's not the only one who grew up." Jimmy smiled. "Rory seems great, though." Tristan paused.

"Do you remember when you broke up with Melanie that first year at school, and you were all depressed so I told you that story about the girl that got away? Mary?" Jimmy stopped to remember.

"Yeah. You were trying to make me feel better." He smiled. "It worked."

"That and a lot of beer." Tristan remembered. Jimmy nodded his head with a grin. "Well, Mary was, and still is, my nickname for Rory." Tristan said before turning to look at his friend's reaction, a small smirk appearing as the information sank in. Jimmy stared at him for a minute before looking over at Rory.

"No!" His eyes opened wide at the confession. "Yeah?" Tristan nodded and let his smile break out over his face. "You lucky son of a bitch." Jimmy said in awe of his friend.

"I know." He laughed, proud of himself.

"So how did you find her?"

"My grandparents. She apparently made friends with them while I was gone and when Gramps had a heart attack, she sent flowers. They immediately spent all of their energy pushing us together."

"That must have been terrible for you." Jimmy said sarcastically. He knew that it wouldn't take any pushing to get Tristan to ask this girl out.

"It was tough." He teased. "Now, we live together."

"Are you thinking about settlin' down?" Jimmy asked.

"We just had the biggest fight in the world over it a couple of weeks ago."

"Why?"

"She was engaged once before and it fell through." Tristan said, not really wanting to talk about it. "Anyway, we decided that we were in this for the long haul, but despite her reassurance that she's ready, I know that she's not. When she is, we'll make it official." Jimmy didn't say anything, just shook his head and patted Tristan on the shoulder.

OOOOO

"So Sara, give me the dirt on Tristan." Rory asked as she sat down next to the girl. "Embarrassing stories, ex-girlfriends…What shouldn't I know?" Sara laughed at Rory's eagerness to hear about Tristan's past.

"You're asking the wrong person." She said. "By the time I met him, he was reformed, as he likes to say." Rory watched as Sara disappeared into her own memories, blushing when she realized that Rory was watching her. "I had the biggest crush on him when I was younger." She explained. "I was thirteen, he was nineteen, but he always was so good with me. Occasionally, he even let me tag along with them when they would go places. I thought I was so cool to be hanging out with them, but I realize now just how uncool that probably was for them."

"He said that you were like the sister that he never had." Rory said. Sara glanced over at Tristan and Jimmy, who were talking animatedly.

"I'm glad he's here. For Jimmy's sake. He's had so much responsibility since Daddy died. He had just graduated from college and was practically running the restaurant by himself while everyone else grieved. I think it helped him to have something to focus on, but it's good that he can just relax."

"Can I ask how he died?"

"He had an brain aneurism. He was only forty-seven, but it was practically painless, which I suppose is a comfort."

"I'm sorry. I can't imagine." Rory said, thinking of losing her own mother at the age of sixteen.

"That was the last time Tristan was back here to visit. He was a pallbearer." She shook her head. "It's hard to believe that it was almost a year and a half ago." Mama emerged onto the deck, the first plates of food in her hands.

"Come on, y'all. Don't let it get cold!" She said as she set them down on the tables and went back inside for another round. The boys headed for the tables quickly.

"Time to move," Sara said standing up, "they'll eat through the table if we let them." Rory smiled and followed Sara's lead.

OOOOO

"Hey you." Rory smiled as Tristan came down and sat next to her. She was sitting on the patio, staring up at the stars, unable to remember the last time she had seen them so clearly. Tristan picked up her legs and put them over his lap.

"Penny for your thoughts." He offered, with a tired sigh.

"I think that if I lived here, I'd gain fifty pounds." She smiled, completely sated. Tristan laughed at her answer. "How did you do it?" She asked.

"There was a reason I had to work out so much while I was here."

"Did you ever think about staying? You seem happy here. I'm sure there wasn't much incentive to go back home."

"My grandparents were incentive enough." He said. "I always figured that I would get a nice big job in the city, stay until they passed away, and then if I felt like leaving, I could. But I wanted to be closer to them while I still could."

"Sara told me about her dad dying." She said quietly. Tristan nodded.

"It was a month after I had moved to New York." Tristan said. "It made me glad that I was closer to home but to not be able to be here at a time like that…" He didn't finish. "I wish I could do more for them after all they've done for me." Rory smiled. There were occasions when she listened to him speak and her heart swelled and she couldn't breathe. They were happening more and more frequently as he opened up to her down here. "I don't realize how much I miss it until I'm back." Rory nodded. It was the same for her and Stars Hollow.

"Could you picture living here again someday? Maybe when you retire, you can design a little house on the beach for winters. Be one of those people who fly south for the winter."

"You think so?" He asked. "What happened to you gaining 50 pounds?" Rory smiled at his assumption that she would be beside him in forty years.

"By then I'll be old and I won't care. Plus we'll probably have grandkids by then and this body that you love so much will have gone to Hell anyway." Tristan laughed and pulled her closer, wanting to enjoy every second he could with her next to him.

"I've seen you eat, I think you're going to be just fine." He grinned. "If you're not obese after one of your movie nights, you're never going to be."

"Touché." Rory smiled.

"But speaking of your tight, hot body..." He muttered.

"Did I say that?" She questioned.

"I embellished." Rory looked over at him, but his concentration was on her legs that were still laying over his lap. He slid a hand up her calf to her thigh. "We should probably be getting back to the hotel." He said. "It's getting late and we've got a drive tomorrow morning."

"Mm, is that your excuse?" She smiled as she tried to release her legs from his wandering hands.

"Yep." He smiled as he let her go.

"Okay, let's go say goodbye."

OOOOO

They made it back to the hotel quickly, both anxious to continue the evening alone.

"Is it weird to say that I missed you today?" Tristan asked her. She turned and gave him a curious look.

"Why?"

"I don't know; we didn't see much of each other. I was busy getting caught up with everyone and you were hijacked into getting to know everyone." He smiled, knowing it was true.

"They care about you. They want to make sure that I'm not some gold-digging Yankee bitch." She said with a smile. Tristan laughed out loud at her phrase. "I didn't mind. I understood. Besides, I learned a lot about you today too." He raised his eyebrow.

"Like what?" He asked.

"Like how you secretly hide money in Sara's coat pockets on holidays." She smiled as his face turned slightly pink. "Or how you and Jimmy borrowed Mama's car one weekend to drive to the beach and ended up having to call a tow truck after getting it stuck in the sand." She said.

"Hey, in our defense, we had no idea that that beach had sink holes." He said as she sat down next to him on the bed.

"The one that surprised me," she said a little more quietly "was that Jimmy knew exactly who I was the second you called me Mary." She said, looking in his eyes. "He told me that I was the one that got away." She said, wanting to hear Tristan's side of the story.

"Yeah, I told him who you were this afternoon."

"But the one that got away?" She asked. "You really thought that?" He shrugged.

"Well not anymore." He said with a victorious smile. "It took a while, but I got you in the end." Rory smiled briefly before she kissed him.

"I'd say yes you did, but I don't want your ego to swell."

"Too late." He said with a smirk. "But that's not the only thing swelling." He whispered, wanting to make her blush. Instead, she gave him a shove to his shoulder.

"Rough. I like it." He said in return.

"You're incorrigible." She muttered as she allowed him to slowly press her down into the bed.

"I prefer to think of it as knowing what I want." He defended himself before kissing her hotly, hoping to silence her.

"You're stubborn is what you are." She broke the kiss with a smile, refusing to give him the last word.

"Not as stubborn as you." He replied without missing a beat.

"And your ego…" She trailed off as he slid down her body to start undressing her.

"What about my ego?" He asked, raising his eyebrow as his fingers slipped her shorts down her legs.

"There are no words." She said disdainfully. He ran his hands under her shirt and pushed it up her body slightly, letting himself kiss her bare stomach as he made his way back to the top of her.

"Great." He said as he removed her shirt entirely, completing his undressing of her. "If you're all out of words, can I make love to you now?" He exasperatedly asked for permission. "Please?" Rory nodded slowly. She couldn't always let him sweep her off her feet and into bed. She had to make him work for it occasionally. But as his kiss poured into her soul, she had to admit, letting him get what he wanted was good too.

OOOOO

The next morning, Rory woke up to a phone ringing in her ears. She pushed Tristan, hoping he would wake up and answer it. He already was reaching for offending object.

"'ello?" He muttered, still very much asleep.

"Tristan, it's your grandfather."

"Uh-huh."

"I hate to bother you on your vacation, but your grandmother and I are at the hospital."

"Why? What happened?" He asked, sitting up.

"Nothing terrible. Your grandmother simply worries too much about me. My heart decided to act up again, but everything is fine now."

"Put Grandma on the phone. Right now." Tristan commanded. Janlan did as he was told, not wanting to scare the boy.

"Hello Tristan." Claire said as she was handed the phone.

"What happened?"

"He had some chest pains so we brought him in again."

"What did the doctors say?"

"They ran a bunch of tests, but everything seems to be normal so far, all things considered." She said, before speaking a little more quietly. "It was quite a scare for a moment though." Tristan felt his own heart clench at his grandmother's confession. He knew how much they would leave out to spare him worrying, so for her to say that, it meant a lot more had actually occurred.

"Is there anything I can do for you guys?" He asked.

"No, no. But if we hadn't called you, we know what would happen when you came back and we told you."

"Call me when you guys find out more, and if he has to stay." Tristan demanded.

"Yes, we will." Claire promised. "Give our love to Rory and have fun dear." She said. "Goodbye."

"Bye." He said as he hung up the phone.

"What happened?" Rory finally spoke up, reminding Tristan that she had been sitting next to him during that entire call.

"Gramps' heart." He said with a large exhalation. He threw his phone at the foot of the bed and glanced at her. "He's going to be fine, or so they say." Rory wrapped an arm around him, wanting him to feel better.

"That's good news, right?" She said, trying to look on the positive side of things. Tristan shrugged.

"He's almost eighty, Ror. Chest pains aren't exactly a good sign."

"Yeah, but he's a DuGray." Rory pointed out. "He's one of the most stubborn people on this entire planet. He's not going to give in to something like chest pains so easily." Tristan smiled softly.

"That's true." He said. "It's just that, every time it happens, it might be the last." He said, glancing towards the window to avoid Rory's watchful gaze.

"Do you want to head back early?" She asked. He shook his head.

"There's nothing we can do there. They'll call if it gets worse." Rory nodded. "God, I'm sorry. That's such a depressing way to start the morning." He said, resolving to forget about the incident. "Why don't I order some room service and a paper and we try starting over?" He proposed.

"Deal." She said with a smile.


	16. ApologiesGoodbye

A/N: Not an update….

Okay, I put it off and put it off, but as I sit here, watching Coachella's live feed of PJ Harvey and thinking of all of the Trory history that lies with that band, I can now say with absolute certainty that I will never come back to finish this story. I got swept up into the FF world of Bones in a way that I never expected and my heart lies there now. Sadly, the price for this newfound world is abandoning the place where I got my writing start and learned everything I know about FF. I just wanted to say thank you to all of my readers and apologize for abandoning a story, something I said that I would never do. I'm still surprised when I get favorites for my GG stories after all this time and that means the world to me! Over the five years that I spent writing here, I have said all that I can say. I've met great people, laughed, cried, and enjoyed every second of the GG community across the globe. On the off chance that you were holding out hope, you can remove me from your author alerts if you don't want to read my Bones stuff. If you do, by all means, join the party over there and read my other fics! Thanks again and if you ever get the urge to talk GG or Trory, or if there are any authors left out there who need to bounce ideas or something, shoot me a PM!

All my love,

RositaLG


End file.
